LIFE 

o  CHARACTER 


F(UTHERFOR'D  B.  HAYES 
WILLIAM  D.  HOWELL: 


SKETCH 


OF   THE 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER 


OF 


RUTHERFOBD   B.  HAYES. 

BY  WM.  D.  HOWELLS. 

ALSO  A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

WILLIAM  A.  WHEELER. 

WITH  PORTRAITS  OF  BOTH  CANDIDATES 


NEW   YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  HURD  AND  HOUGHTON. 
BOSTON:   H.  O.  HOUGHTON  AND  COMPANY. 
:  Clje  Htterrftte 

1876. 


COPYRIGHT,  1876, 
BY  W.  D.  UOWELLS 


RIVERSIDE,  CAMBRIDGE: 

STEREOTYPED  AND  PRINTED   BY 

H.  0.  HOCGUTON  AND  COMPANY. 


PEEFAOE. 


THIS  book  is  my  own  enterprise,  and  has  been  in 
nowise  adopted  or  patronized  by  the  man  whose  life 
and  character  I  have  tried  to  portray. 

It  differs  chiefly  from  the  biographies  already  before 
the  public,  in  the  large  use  made  of  original  letters, 
diaries,  note-books  and  scrap-books  placed  at  my  dis 
posal  without  restriction  and  without  instruction.  In 
this  use  I  have  been  guided  solely  by  my  own  sense  of 
fitness  and  my  respect  for  the  just  limits  of  personality, 
on  which  I  hope  not  to  have  trenched,  though  I  might 
have  printed  every  word  of  his,  and  only  the  more  com 
mended  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  to  the  honor  and  affec 
tion  of  the  people. 

Written  within  four  weeks  after  the  material  came 
to  my  hand,  the  book  has,  I  know,  very  many  faults  of 
haste ;  but  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  any  writer,  how 
ever  hurried  or  feeble,  wholly  to  obscure  the  interest  of 
that  material ;  and  whatever  is  the  result  of  the  political 

414502 


IV  PREFACE. 

contest,  I  cannot  think  that  people  will  quickly  forget 
the  story  of  a  life  so  true  and  high. 

I  wish  distinctly  to  say  that  General  Hayes  is  re 
sponsible  for  no  comment  or  construction  of  mine  upon 
any  word  or  act  of  his  ;  and  whatever  is  ambitious,  or 
artificial,  or  unwise  in  my  book  is  doubly  my  misfor 
tune,  for  it  is  altogether  false  to  him. 

W.  D.  HOWELLS. 
CAMBBIDOE,  September  7,  1876. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 
ANCESTRY  AND  CHILDHOOD 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
COLLEGE  DAYS ,    ....     14 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  STUDENT  IN  THE  HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL  ....    21 

CHAPTER  IV. 

TRAVELS    IN   NEW   ENGLAND   AND    TEXAS,   AND   FIRST 
YEARS  IN  CINCINNATI 30 

CHAPTER   V. 
FIRST  PUBLIC  SERVICES 47 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  EDUCATION  OF  A  SOLDIER 53 

CHAPTER  VIL 
THE  CAMP  ON  THE  KANAWHA  AND  THE  MORGAN  RAID  .    71 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
CLOYD  MOUNTAIN  AND  WINCHESTER  .  76 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Ma 

OPEQUAN,  FISHER'S  HILL,  AND  CEDAR  CREEK    .    .    .    .    87 

CHAPTER  X. 

TWICE  CONGRESSMAN,  THRICE  GOVERNOR,  AND  NOMINEE 
FOR  PRESIDENT 98 

CHAPTER  XL 
HAYES'S  POLITICAL  POSITIONS  AND  OPINIONS     ....  121 

CHAPTER  XH. 

CHARACTER:    POLITICIAN,    ORATOR,    PUBLIC    SERVANT, 
SOLDIER,  CITIZEN,  MAN 162 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

OF 

KUTHEKFOED   B.   HAYES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ANCESTRY     AND     CHILDHOOD. 

"  THE  name  of  Hayes  began  by  valor,"  wrote  Mr. 
Ezekiel  Hayes,  of  New  Haven,  scythe-maker,  some 
time  in  the  last  century  ;  and  he  goes  on  to  tell  how 
once,  in  a  fight  with  the  Danes,  the  retreating  Scots 
came  upon  a  husbandman  and  his  two  sons  at  work  in 
the  fields.  "•  Pull  your  plow  and  harrow  to  pieces  and 
fight ! "  said  the  father,  and  with  this  timely  succor 
—  more  remarkable  for  quality  than  quantity  —  the 
Danes  were  beaten ;  and  lands  were  bestowed  upon  the 
father  for  his  bravery.  "  This  man  (my  father's 
grandfather,  George  Hayes),"  continues  the  too  zeal 
ous  genealogist,  "  went  from  Scotland  to  Derbyshire, 
in  England,  and  lived  with  his  uncle.  He  was  anxious 
to  see  London,  whither  he  went.  Having  received 
some  account  of  America,  he  took  passage  and  came  to 
this  country." 

It  was  in  1682  that  George  Hayes  settled  in  Wind- 
1 


. ;  .T^JB .  CONNECTIC W  <,H  A Y  ESES. 

sor,  Connecticut,  at  which  time,  according  to  the  ir 
reverent  computations  of  a  modern  descendant  of  Mr. 
Ezekiel  Hayes,  the  veteran  must  have  been  some  seven 
hundred  years  old,  since  the  battle  in  question  took  place 
about  980.  But  the  brave  tradition  is  well  found  at 
least;  it  was  heartily  accepted  as  part  of  the  family 
annals  by  the  early  Puritan  Hayeses  of  Connecticut,  and 
its  veracity  ought  not  to  be  impeached  because  of  their 
confusion  of  mind  respecting  dates.  It  is,  however,  of 
small  importance  to  us  who  hope  to  elect  General 
Hayes  President  of  the  United  States,  how  his  name 
began  in  Scotland  so  long  ago.  It  continues  in  valor, 
no  matter  how  it  began,  and  a  man  of  his  good  New 
England  ancestry  has  nothing  to  crave  of  the  Herald's 
College.  We  hold  rather  by  the  Connecticut  Hayeses 
than  by  those  of  Scotland,  and  we  need  but  briefly  con 
cern  ourselves  with  any  of  the  forefathers  of  a  man 
who  is  himself  ancestor  in  the  Napoleonic  sense. 

Little  is  known  of  George  Hayes,  who  emigrated  in 
1682,  beyond  the  fact  that  he  settled  first  at  Wind 
sor  and  afterwards  removed  to  that  part  of  Simsbury 
which  is  now  Granby.  His  son  Daniel  was  taken  by 
the  Indians  about  the  year  1712,  and  carried  captive  to 
Canada,  whence  he  was  ransomed  by  act  of  the  Colo 
nial  Assembly  appropriating  "  seven  pounds  to  be  paid 
out  of  the  public  treasury  "for  that  purpose.  What 
claim,  if  any,  he  had  upon  the  colony's  consideration, 
by  reason  of  civic  prominence  or  military  service,  is  not 
asserted  even  by  so  ardent  a  genealogist  as  his  son 
Ezekiel,  whom  we  have  already  quoted  ;  probably  he 


RUTHERFORD    BIRCHARD   HAYES.  <J 

was  a  plain,  brave  farmer,  fighting  in  defense  of  his 
home,  and  was  ransomed  according  to  a  general  custom 
of  the  time,  upon  his  "  praying  for  some  relief."  It  is 
known  that  he  came  home  to  Simsbury,  and  died  there 
in  1756 ;  but  his  son  Ezekie.l  removed  to  New  Haven, 
where  the  first  Rutherford  1  Hayes,  grandfather  of  our 
candidate,  was  born.  This  Rutherford  was  in  due 
time  apprenticed  to  a  blacksmith,  and,  removing  from 
New  Haven  first  to  New  Hampshire  and  then  to 
West  Brattleborough,  Vermont,  he  wrought  at  his  trade 
there  many  years  in  a  forge  which  the  people  built 
to  welcome  him,  and  became  a  man  of  substance,  a 
farmer  and  innkeeper,  dying  in  1836,  the  father  of'' 
eleven  children.  The  fifth  of  these,  Rutherford,  was 
an  active  and  enterprising  spirit,  and  he  was  already 
a  thrifty  farmer  and  merchant  when,  in  1817,  the 
West,  which  was  even  then  beginning  to  be  the  Great 
West,  tempted  his  energies.  He  emigrated  to  Dela 
ware,  Ohio,  bought  land,  established  himself  in  pros 
perous  business,  and  five  years  later  died  of  a  typhoid 
fever,  leaving  a  wife  and  two  children.  Some  three 
months  after,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1822,  a  son  was 
born  to  him,  and  the  widow  called  the  child's  name 
RUTHERFORD  BIRCHARD  HAYES,  in  memory  of  the 
father  whose  loss  was  yet  so  terribly  new,  and  in  grate 
ful  affection  for  that  most  loving  brother2  who  was 

1  The  surname  of  an  ancestor  on  the  female  side,  who  came  to  New- 
Haven  in  1643,  and  from  whose  daughter's  marriage  proceed  the  New 
Haven  Trowbridges. 

2  Sardis  Birchard,  who  died  a  few  years  since,  at  Fremont,  Ohio. 
He  had  lived  unmarried,  and  in  the  course  of  a  long  life  had  amassed 


4  FAMILY   NAMES. 

thereafter  a  tender  and  devoted  guardian  of  her  father 
less  children. 

It  is  of  this  Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes  that  the 
present  sketch  treats,  with  an  inadequacy  which  the 
reader  may  feel,  though  he  cannot  know  the  keen  re 
gret  of  the  writer,  whom  the  rich  material  in  the 
family  records,  the  letters,  and  the  diaries  placed  at  his 
service  tempts  to  a  work  far  beyond  the  scope  and 
limits  of  this. 

The  Hayeses  of  the  colonial  times,  from  whom  we 
have  here  traced  Rutherford  B.  Hayes's  descent  in  the 
direct  line,  were  a  strong,  brave,  simple  race,  following 
the  plow,  wielding  the  hammer,  and  hewing  out  their 
way  as  plain  men  must  in  a  new  land.  After  the  first 
emigrant,  George  Hayes,  of  Scotland,  who  may  have 
been  of  a  less  rigid  faith,  they  seem  to  have  taken 
the  prevailing  tint  of  Connecticut  Puritanism  —  always 
less  blue  than  it  has  been  painted ;  and  thereafter, 
till  Rutherford's  time,  the  evangelists,  and  the  judges, 
the  prophets,  and  the  kings  of  Israel  supply  the  serious 
names  of  their  Daniels,  Ezekiels,  Aarons,  Joels,  Mar 
thas,  Zilpahs,  and  Rebeccas ;  there  was,  indeed,  one 
Silence  Hayes  of  the  third  generation,  but  the  conces 
sion  to  imagination  in  her  name  is  not  in  the  liveliest 
spirit,  and,  considering  that  she  was  a  woman,  might 

a  large  property,  which  General  Hayes  inherits.  He  was  a  man  not 
only  of  pood  heart  and  of  great  practical  force  of  character,  but  of  the 
best  public  spirit  and  of  cultivated  tastes.  He  gave  a  library  and  a 
park  to  the  town  of  Fremont,  and  left  to  his  nephew  a  gallery  of  pict 
ures  including  works  by  some  of  the  best  American  and  modern 
French  and  German  painters. 


A   NOTED    ANCESTOR.  5 

appear  a  stroke  of  that  grim  irony  which  the  auster- 
est  faith  permits  itself.  So  far  as  we  can  learn,  the 
Hayeses  were  never  in  public  station  and  never  en 
joyed  uncommon  social  distinction.  /But  they  had 
qualities  of  a  sort  apt,  in  an  honest  and  thrifty  stock, 
when  the  moment  comes,  to  flower  into  greatness  j  and 
they  had  the  gift,  not  yet  extinct  in  their  line,  of  win 
ning  superior  women  for  their  wives,  through  whom 
they  united  themselves  with  families  of  worth,  learn 
ing,  and  piety.  Ezekiel  married  a  Russell,  of  those 
Russells  who,  first  sojourning  in  Cambridge  after  their 
emigration  from  England,  followed  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Hooker  into  the  Connecticut  wilderness,  when  its  first 
church  troubles  distracted  our  good  town.  They  re 
mained  men  of  character  and  of  a  consideration  which 
their  Connecticut  descendants  still  enjoy ;  but  none  has 
so  distinct  a  claim  upon  our  honor  as  that  son  of  the 
original  emigrant  who  concealed  the  fugitive  Regicides 
at  Hadley  many  years,  and  of  whom  it  is  written  by 
the  town  historiographer,  "  He  feared  not  to  do  what 
he  thought  to  be  right." 

In  his  turn,  Rutherford,  the  son  of  Daniel,  wedded 
Chloe  Smith,  the  daughter  of  Israel  Smith,  originally  of 
Hadley,  Massachusetts,  but  at  the  time  of  his  daughter's 
marriage  a  principal  citizen  of  Southwestern  Vermont. 
The  first  of  the  family  out  of  England  was  Leftenant 
Samuel  Smith,  who  left  his  native  town  of  Ipswich 
in  1663  and  settled  in  Connecticut,  where  he  was  for 
twelve  years  a  member  of  the  Colonial  Assembly. 
After  his  removal  to  Hadley,  where  he  died  in  great 


6  ISRAEL  SMITH. 

esteem,  he  held  many  public  trusts  and  was  often  chosen 
to  the  General  Court.  The  family  was  always  one  of 
local  distinction  and  unusual  culture,  and  in  a  later 
generation  one  of  Chloe's  uncles  went  from  college  to 
preach  to  the  Indians  in  Pennsylvania.  He  and  one 
of  his  brothers,  from  becoming  Sandemanians  ("  I  don't 
know  as  there  is  any  such  in  the  country  now,"  con 
fesses  Chloe  Hayes  in  her  diary,  "  nor  do  I  know  what 
their  belief  is ")  became  loyalists,  and  fled  to  Nova 
Scotia  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  ;  but  Chloe's 
father,  Israel,  was  a  staunch  Whig  and  served  under 
Washington,  by  whom  he  was  entrusted  with  the  arrest 
of  certain  Tories  of  that  day,  suspected  of  intriguing 
with  the  British  in  Vermont.  He  had  lauds  specially 
granted  him  for  his  services,  and  he  was  one  of  three 
commissioners  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  property 
of  refugee  Tories  ;  he  was  also  a  prominent  partisan  of 
the  State  of  New  York  in  her  disputes  with  the  new 
State  of  Vermont ;  he  was  employed  on  much  public 
business  connected  with  that  now  forgotten  controversy, 
and  he  and  his  son-in-law  both  received  lands  from  the 
grateful  elder  commonwealth. 

Chloe  Smith  was  the  eldest  of  nine  children,  and, 
becoming  the  mother  of  eleven,  lived  to  so  great  an 
age  as  to  have  left  upon  the  memory  of  many  surviv 
ing  grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren  the  personal 
impression  of  her  strong  and  resolute  character,  and  her 
rugged  Puritan  virtues,  tempered  and  softened  by  aes 
thetic  gifts  amounting  almost  to  genius.  It  is  to  her  that 
her  posterity  are  fond  of  ascribing  in  vast  measure  what- 


CHLOE   SMITH   HAYES.  7 

ever  is  best  in  their  hereditary  traits,  and  she  certainly 
merits  more  than  passing  notice  in  the  most  cursory 
characterization  of  her  grandson.  Above  all  and  first 
of  all  she  was  deeply  religious,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
days  that  we  now  think  so  grim,  and  she  set  her  duty 
to  God,  as  she  knew  it,  before  "every  earthly  concern 
and  affection.  With  a  devotion  almost  as  deep,  she 
dedicated  her  days  to  incessant  work,  and  her  toil  often 
saved  the  spirit  that  faltered  in  its  religious  gloom. 
She  rose  early  and  wrought  late,  as  the  wife  of  a 
farmer  and  innkeeper,  and  the  mother  of  eleven  chil 
dren,  must,  and  as  a  woman  of  her  temperament 
would  ;  and  she  was  as  intolerant  of  idleness  in  others 
as  in  herself.  Even  the  great-grandchildren  had  their 
tasks  set  them  in  their  visits  to  this  inveterate  worker, 
who  could  not  rest  from  her  labors  after  eighty  years. 
She  was  a  famous  cook,  and  the  triumphs  of  her  skill 
at  Thanksgivings  and  other  sufferable  holidays  were  no 
less  her  own  pride  than  the  solace  of  her  guests.  But 
she  shone  even  more  in  needle-work  and  the  now  ob 
solete  arts  of  the  wheel  and  loom.  "  She  knit  more 
stockings,  mittens,  and  gloves,  wove  more  rag  carpets, 
spun  and  wove  more  cloth,  elaborated  more  wonderful 
rugs,  lamp-mats,  and  bags,  than  any  other  woman  of 
her  generation,"  writes  one  of  her  grandsons ;  and  the 
reminiscence  of  a  granddaughter,  at  once  touching  and 
amusing,  gives  the  color  of  the  Puritanism  which 
steeped  in  fear  and  misgiving  the  indulgence  of  such 
love  of  beauty  as  she  permitted  herself.  "  I  spoke  of 
her  passion  for  worsted  work.  I  have  heard  her  say 


8  A   QUAINT   DIARY. 

that  Saturday  afternoon  she  put  it  all  into  her  work- 
basket,  and  pushed  it  under  the  bed  as  far  as  she  could  ; 
then,  taking  out  her  prosy  knitting-work,  she  tried  to 
get  it  all  out  of  her  mind  for  Sunday  ! "  Yet  she  was 
a  true  artist  in  this  passion  ;  her  devices  in  worsted  were 
her  greatest  delight,  and  she  studied  them  from  nature, 
going  into  her  garden  and  copying  the  leaf  or  flower 
she  meant  to  embroider.1  She  had  an  almost  equal 
passion  for  flowers,  for  which,  doubtless,  she  suffered 
the  same  qualms.  In  her  old  age  she  kept  a  diary, 
which  remains  to  her  descendants  and  completely  re 
flects  her  stern,  resolute,  duteous,  God-fearing,  yet  most 
tender  and  loving  soul.  In  a  sketch  of  family  history, 
with  which  she  prefaces  her  journals,  she  laments,  with 
a  simple  pathos  which  no  words  can  reproduce  with 
out  the  context,  her  possible  error  in  setting  work  and 
duty  before  some  other  things.  "  My  husband  .... 
would  sometimes  say, '  The  horse  is  standing  in  the  barn, 
doing  nothing.  We  will  go  and  ride  ;  it 's  no  matter 
whether  we  stop  anywhere.'  But  I  would  say,  *  I  can't 
leave  my  work.'  So  he  would  not  go,  or  go  alone. 
Oh,  now  I  would  say  to  every  woman  that  has  a  good 
husband,  Enjoy  them  while  they  are  spared  to  you,  or 
it  will  grieve  you  to  the  heart  when  it  is  too  late  — 
when  all  is  over ! "  But  this  cry  of  regret,  in  a  sor 
row  as  keen  as  if  the  husband  she  had  lost  had  been 

1  Most  of  her  grandchildren  inherited  her  artistic  skill ;  among  her 
great-grandchildren  are  Larkin  G.  Mead,  the  sculptor,  and  his  brother, 
John  Mead,  who  died  in  his  Junior  year  at  Harvard,  and  had  already 
given  promise  in  art.  A  series  of  lithographs  illustrating  student 
life  were  published  after  his  death. 


GENERAL   HAYES'S   MOTHER.  9 

cut  off  in  his  prime,  and  not  in  the  fullness  of  his 
eighty  years,  is  almost  the  sole  expression  of  misgiving 
in  a  diary  to  which  she  confesses  everything,  commits 
every  hope,  fear,  doubt,  and  imparts  every  mood  of  her 
soul.  The  faded  pages,  recording  so  vividly  a  type  of 
high  character  which  has  passed  away  with  the  chang 
ing  order  of  things,  are  of  almost  unique  interest,  but 
this  is  not  the  time  or  place  to  explore  them.  Work, 
faith,  duty,  self-sacrifice,  continual  self-abasement  in 
the  presence  of  the  Divine  perfection,  are  the  ideal  of 
life  which  they  embody  —  the  old  New  England  ideal. 
It  was  a  stern  and  unlovely  thing  often  in  its  real 
ization  ;  it  must  have  made  gloomy  weeks  arid  terrible 
Sabbaths  ;  but  out  of  the  true  stuff  it  shaped  charac 
ter  of  insurpassable  uprightness  and  strength.  It  is  to 
the  indomitable  will,  the  tireless  industry,  the  rectitude, 
the  whole,  ever-vigilant  conscience,  which  it  fostered 
in  his  austere  ancestress,  that  this  man  of  our  choice 
doubtless  owes  the  virtues  on  which  our  hopes  rest. 
From  other  progenitors  come  the  genial  traits,  the  fine 
and  joyous  humor,  the  quick  cordiality,  the  amiable 
presence,  which  a  superficial  observation  has  mistaken 
for  the  whole  man  ;  but  from  her  the  keen  sarcasm,  the 
active  intellect,  the  ever-present  sense  of  duty,  the  im 
movable  purpose,  the  practical  religiousness,  now  no 
longer  bound  to  creeds  but  fully  surviving  in  the 
blameless  and  useful  life. 

The  mother  of  General  Hayes  was  Sophia  Birchard, 
whose  family  had  removed  from  Connecticut  to  Ver 
mont  near  the  close  of  the  last  century.  She  too  has 


10  EARLY    CHILDHOOD. 

left  a  diary,  in  which  we  recognize  many  of  the  same 
religious  traits  so  strongly  marked  in  her  mother- 
in-law.  The  circumstances  of  her  widowhood,  in  the 
strange  new  country  (Mrs.  Chloe  Hayes,  on  her  daugh 
ter's  departure  for  the  West,  speaks  of  her  "  leaving  her 
native  land,"  as  if  "  the  Ohio,"  so  called  in  that  day, 
were  some  unattainable  foreign  strand)  whither  she  had 
followed  her  husband,  no  doubt  tended  to  deepen  the 
sad  aspects  of  her  faith  at  the  expense  of  those  happier 
hereditary  instincts  which  in  her  brother  became  a 
strong  love  of  art.  She  and  her  husband  united  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  —  the  Western  Puritanism, — 
and  their  children  were  reared  in  that  faith,  but  the 
sole  survivor  of  her  family  is  not  now  a  member  of  the 
sect  in  question,  nor  of  any  other,  though  a  regular  at 
tendant,  with  his  wife,  at  the  Methodist  services.  Not 
many  years  after  her  husband's  death,  their  oldest  son 
was  drowned,  and  there  remained  to  the  widowed 
mother  only  two  of  her  children:  a  brother  and  sister, 
who  grew  up  in  a  friendship  most  tender  and  affection 
ate  on  her  part,  and  of  passionate  reverence  and  admi 
ration  on  his.  In  a  manuscript  memoir  of  this  adored 
sister,  which  must  be  sacred  from  more  than  a  passing 
allusion,  General  Hayes  recorded,  shortly  after  her 
death,  the  simple  facts  of  their  early  childhood  in  Del 
aware.  It  is  now  a  pretty  town  of  some  eight  thousand 
souls,  seat  of  a  Methodist  college,  and  deriving  its  pros 
perity  chiefly  from  one  of  the  richest  farming  regions 
of  Central  Ohio.  Its  situation  on  the  borders  of  the 
Olentangy  is  charmingly  picturesque,  and  the  painter 


DESIRE   FOR   BOOKS.  11 

Griswold  drew  his  first  inspirations  from  the  surpass 
ingly  lovely  country  in  which  it  lies.  At  the  early 
period  of  which  the  memoir  treats,  the  land  was  yet 
new,  though  the  pioneer  period  had  quite  passed. 
Mrs.  Hayes  dwelt  in  a  substantial  brick  house  in  the 
village,  and  drew  a  large  part  of  her  income  from  a 
farm  left  her  by  her  husband  in  the  neighborhood. 
Besides  the  guardianship  of  her  brother,  she  had  in 
the  care  of  her  children  and  house  the  help  of  one 
of  those  faithful  friends  whom  it  is  cruel  to  call  serv 
ants,  and  whom  in  this  case  the  children  both  re 
garded  with  filial  affection.  But  life  in  that  time 
and  country  was  necessarily  very  simple  ;  this  early 
home  Was  in  no  sense  an  establishment ;  when  the 
faithful  Asenath  married  and  set  up  for  herself  in 
life,  the  mother  and  the  sister  did  all  the  work  of  the 
household  themselves.  The  greatest  joys  of  a  happy 
childhood  were  the  visits  the  brother  and  sister  made 
to  the  farm  in  the  sugar  season,  in  cherry  time,  at  cider- 
making,  and  when  the  walnuts  and  hickory-nuts  were 
ripe ;  and  its  greatest  cross  was  the  want  of  children's 
books,  with  which  the  village  lawyer's  family  was  sup 
plied.  When  their  uncle  Birchard  began  in  business 
he  satisfied  their  hearts'  desire  for  this  kind  of  litera 
ture,  and  books  of  a  graver  and  maturer  sort  seem  al 
ways  to  have  abounded  with  them.  They  read  Hume's 
and  Smollett's  English  history  together ;  the  sister  of 
twelve  years  interpreted  Shakespeare  to  the  brother  of 
ten ;  they  read  the  poetry  of  Mr.  Thomas  Moore  (then 
so  much  finer  and  grander  than  now),  and  they  paid 


12  HIS  SISTER'S  INFLUENCE. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  the  tribute   of  dramatizing   together 
his  "  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  and  were  duly  astonished  and 
dismayed  to  learn  afterwards  that  they  were  not  the 
sole   inventors  of   the  dramatization  of   poems,  —  that 
even  their  admired  "  Lady  of  the  Lake  "  had  long  been 
upon   the  stage.     The  influence  of  an  elder  sister  upon 
a  generous  and  manly  boy  is  always  very  great ;  and  it 
is  largely  to  this  sister's  unfailing  instincts  and  ardent 
enthusiasm  for  books  that  her  brother  owes  his  life-long 
pleasure  in  the  best  literature.    She  not  only  read  with 
him ;  she    studied  at  home  the  same   lessons   in  Latin 
and  Greek  which  he  recited  privately  to  a  gentleman  of 
the  place ;  she  longed  to  be  a  boy,  that  she  might  go  to 
college  with  him;  in  the  futile  way  she  must,  so -remote 
from  all  instruction,  she  strove  to  improve  herself  in 
drawing  and  painting.     One  of   their  first  school-mas 
ters  was  Daniel  Granger,  "  a  little,  thin,  wiry  Yankee," 
of  terrible  presence  but  of  good  enough  heart,  whom 
"  the  love  he    bore  to    learning  "  obliged  to  flog  boys 
of  twice  his  own  bulk,  with  furious  threats  of  throw 
ing  them  through  the  school-house  walls,  and  of  mak 
ing  them  "dance  like  parched  peas,"  —  which  dreadful 
behavior  and  menaces  rendered  "  all  the  younger  chil 
dren  horribly  afraid  of  him,"  and  perhaps  did  not  so 
much  advance  the    brother's  and  sister's  education  as 
their  private    studies  and    reading    had  done:    that  is 
frequently  the  result  of  a  too  athletic  zeal  for  letters 
on  the  part    of  instructors.     The    children    were  not 
separated  for  any  length  of  time  until    the    brother's 
fourteenth  year,  when  he   went  away  to  the  Academy 


AN   IRREPARABLE    LOSS.  13 

at  Norwalk,  Ohio,  and  after  that  they  were  little  to 
gether  during  his  preparation  for  college  in  Middle- 
town,  Connecticut,  and  his  college  years  at  Kenyon 
College,  Ohio.  But  throughout  this  time  they  wrote 
regularly  to  each  other  ;  she  took  the  deepest  interest 
in  all  bis  studies,  their  devoted  affection  continued  in 
their  maturer  life,  and  when  her  death  parted  them  it 
left  him  with  the  sorrow  of  an  irreparable  loss. 


CHAPTER   II. 

COLLEGE    DAYS. 

IT  was  the  wish  of  his  preceptor  at  Middletown  that 
Hayes  should  enter  Yale  College.  "  I  was  educated 
there  myself,"  writes  the  worthy  Mr.  Isaac  Webb,  in 
a  letter  to  the  boy's  mother,  most  commendatory  of 
her  son,  "  and  feel  a  strong  attachment  to  the  institu 
tion  ;  and  I  know  its  advantages.  ....  He  says  he 
has  perhaps  given  you  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the 
expenses  of  Yale  College.  The  necessary  expenses,  in 
cluding  everything  except  clothing  and  pocket-money, 
range  from  $150  to  $200  only,"  —  which  the  frugalest 
mother  would  not  think  very  exorbitant  even  now. 
Then  the  writer  adds  testimony  on  a  certain  point  in 
which  our  candidate  has  been  painfully  contrasted 
with  the  agricultural  simplicity  ef  Mr.  Tilden  :  "  I  tell 
Rutherford  that  plain,  decent  dress  is  as  much  re 
spected  at  New  Haven  as  anywhere  else  ;  and  a  dandy 
is  as  much  despised,  and  as  great  an  object  of  ridicule 
and  contempt,  as  he  is  in  Ohio.  I  think  Rutherford 
is  judicious  in  his  taste,  and  has  as  little  ambition  to 
be  a  fop  as  any  of  the  rest  of  us."  That  such  a  man 
should  in  after  life  abandon  himself  to  the  excesses 
of  fashion  would,  if  true,  be  a  fact  really  regrettable, 


AT    KENYON   COLLEGE.  lf> 

except  as  the  sole  refuge  of  opponents  who  have  found 
nothing  else  to  allege  against  him. 

It  was  settled,  however,  that  Hayes  should  enter  col 
lege  in  his  native  State,  and  he  was  therefore  exam 
ined  for  the  Freshman  class  at  Kenyon  College,  Gam- 
bier,  Ohio,  in  November,  1838.  Possibly  because  of 
his  fitness  for  entering  an  institution  of  severer  re 
quirements,  he  records  his  passing  the  examination, 
and  considers  his  Freshman  studies  at  Kenyon  with 
a  coolness  approaching  nonchalance;  and  his  fellow- 
students  of  that  day  remember  his  overflowing  jollity 
and  drollery  more  distinctly  than  his  ardor  in  study, 
though  his  standing  was  always  good.  Even  in  the 
serious  shades  of  Middletown  his  mirthful  spirit  and 
his  love  of  humor  bubbled  over  into  his  exercise  books, 
where  his  translations  from  Homer  are  interspersed  with 
mock-heroic  law-pleas  in  Western  courts,  evidently  tran 
scribed  from  newspapers,  and  every  sort  of  grotesque 
extravagance  in  prose  or  rhyme.  The  increased  dig 
nity  of  a  collegian  seems  to  have  rebuked  this  school- 
boyish  fondness  for  crude  humor :  a  commonplace- 
book  of  the  most  unexceptionable  excerpts  from  classic 
authors  of  various  languages  records  the  taste  of  this 
time,  and  the  reflections  on  abstract  questions  in 
young  Hayes's  journals  are  commonly  of  that  final 
wisdom  which  the  experience  of  mankind  has  taught 
us  to  expect  in  the  speculations  of  Freshmen  and 
Sophomores.  They  are  good  fellows,  hearty,  happy, 
running  over  with  pranks  and  jests,  and  joyous  and 
original  in  everything  but  their  philosophy,  which  must 


16  FIRST   STUDIES   OF   CHARACTER. 

be  forgiven  them  for  the  sake  of  the  many  people  who 
remain  Sophomores  all  their  lives.  Hayes  was  a  boy 
who  loved  all  honest,  manly  sports.  He  was  a  capital 
shot  with  the  rifle,  and  he  allotted  a  due  share  of  his 
time  to  hunting,  as  well  as  fishing,  —  to  which  he  was 
even  more  devoted,  —  swimming,  and  skating.  Shortly 
after  he  went  to  Kenyon  he  records  that  he  broke 
through  the  ice  where  the  water  was  eight  feet  deep, 
and  "  was  not  scared  much."  His  companions  helped 
him  out  "  without  much  trouble,"  and  he  adds,  with 
something  like  indignant  scorn,  "  I  could  have  got  up 
without  any  help."  At  Christmas  time  he  walked  forty 
miles  home  to  Delaware  in  twelve  hours,  and  after 
Christmas  walked  back  to  Gambier  in  four  inches  of 
snow. 

There  are  few  incidents,  and  none  of  importance, 
set  down  in  these  early  journals.  What  distinguishes 
them  from  other  collegian  diaries,  and  gives  them  their 
peculiar  value  in  any  study  of  the  man,  is  the  evi 
dence  they  afford  of  his  life-long  habit  of  rigid  self- 
'accountability  and  of  close,  shrewd  study  of  character 
in  others.  At  the  end  of  his  third  year  he  puts  in 
writing  his  estimate  of  the  traits,  talents,  and  pros 
pects  of  his  fellow-students ;  and  in  a  diary  opened  at 
the  same  time  he  begins  those  searching  examinations 
of  his  own  motives,  purposes,  ideas,  and  aspirations 
without  which  no  man  can  know  other  men.  These  in 
quiries  are  not  made  by  the  young  fellow  of  nineteen 
in  any  spirit  of  dreamy  or  fond  introspection  ;  him 
self  interests  him,  of  course,  but  he  is  not  going  to  give 


EARLY   ASPIRATIONS   AND   INTROSPECTIONS.      17 

himself  any  quarter  on  that  account :  he  has  got  to 
stand  up  before  his  own  conscience,  and  be  judged  for 
his  suspected  conceit,  for  his  procrastinations,  for  his 
neglect  of  several  respectable  but  disagreeable  branches 
of  learning,  for  his  tendency  to  make  game  of  a  certain 
young  college  poet  who  supposes  himself  to  look  like 
Byron^;  for  his  fondness,  in  fine,  for  trying  the  edge  of 
his  wit  upon  all  the  people  about  him.  Upon  consid 
eration  he  reaches  the  conclusion  that  he  is  not  a  per 
son  of  genius,  and  that  if  he  is  to  succeed  he  must  work 
hard,  and  make  the  very  most  of  the  fair  abilities  with 
which  he  accredits  himself.  He  has  already  chosen  his 
future  profession,  and  he  is  concerned  about  his  slip 
shod  style,  and  his  unreadiness  of  speech,  which  will 
never  do  for  an  orator.  He  is  going  to  look  carefully 
to  his  literature,  and  he  takes  an  active  interest  in  the 
literary  societies  of  the  college  ;  about  this  time  also  he 
is  one  of  "  a  few  select  friends  "  who  found  a  club 
having  for  its  stately  object  "  the  promotion  of  firm  and 
enduring  friendship  among  its  members,"  and  though 
he  doubts  whether  the  friendships  thus  systematically 
promoted  will  endure  much  beyond  the  graduation  of 
the  allies,  he  will  do  what  he  can  for  the  club.  He 
has  to  accuse  himself  at  the  mature  age  of  nineteen  of 
being  still  a  boy  in  many  things ;  even  after  he  is 
legally  a  man,  he  shrewdly  suspects,  the  law  will  have 
somewhat  deceived  itself  in  regard  to  him.  He  also 
finds  that  he  is  painfully  bashful  in  society,  but  that 
great  relief  may  be  found  by  making  fun  of  his  own 
embarrassments.  It  is  a  frank,  simple,  generous  rec- 
2 


18  POLITICAL   IDEAS   AT   NINETEEN. 

ord,  unconscious  even  in  its  consciousness,  and  full 
of  the  most  charming  qualities  of  heart  and  mind.  No 
where  is  the  trace  of  any  low  ideal  or  sordid  motive  ; 
nowhere  the  self-betrayal  of  an  egoistic  or  narrow  spirit. 
There  is  uncommonly  little  of  the  rhetoric  of  youth- 
fulness  ;  a  good  sense,  as  kindly-hearted  as  it  is  hard- 
headed,  characterizes  the  boy's  speculations  and  aspira 
tions  and  criticisms.  The  ancestral  tendency  to  exam 
ine,  consider,  accuse,  approve,  or  blame  the  springs  of 
thought  and  action  is  here  in  accumulated  force,  but 
the  trial  goes  on  through  all  the  diaries,  not  so  much 
with  regard  to  duty  to  God,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Puri 
tan  diarist,  but  duty  to  one's  self  and  to  other  men  ;  the 
stand-point  is  moral,  not  spiritual ;  the  aim  is  to  be  a 
good  man  of  this  world.  Not  that  the  young  fellow 
has  any  doubts  of  the  theology  in  which  he  has  been 
reared  ;  he  writes  with  large  satisfaction  of  how  he  has 
labored  to  show  a  fellow-student  the  folly  of  skepticism. 
As  for  political  affairs,  he  does  not,  he  affirms,  take 
any  interest  in  them.  He  intends  to  be  a  lawyer  and 
to  let  politics  alone.  Yet  he  cannot  help  saying  in 
1841  that  the  Whigs  "  should  be  careful  how  they 
hazard  all  by  casting  loose  from  John  Tyler  for  a  con 
scientious  discharge  of  duty  "  in  vetoing  the  Bank  Bill. 
"  I  was  never  more  rejoiced  than  when  it  was  ascer 
tained  that  Harrison's  election  was  certain.  I  hoped 
that  we  should  then  have  a  stable  currency  of  uniform 
value,"  —  a  hope  to  which  thirty-five  years  later  he  is 
still  loyal,  —  "  but  since  Tyler  has  vetoed  one  way  of 
accomplishing  this,  I  would  not  hesitate  to  try  others.'* 


TAKING    A    STAND   FOR   LIFE.  19 

A  little  later  we  find  that  he  has  "  aspirations  which  he 
would  not  conceal  from  himself,"  and  of  which  one 
may  readily  infer  the  political  nature  from  what  fol 
lows.  But  what  follows  is  more  important  for  the  re 
lation  it  bears  to  his  whole  career,  than  for  the  light 
it  throws  upon  any  part  of  it.  "  The  reputation  which 
I  desire  is  not  that  momentary  eminence  which  is  gained 
without  merit  and  lost  without  regret,"  he  says  with  a 
collegian's  swelling  antithesis ;  and  then  solidly  places 
himself  in  the  attitude  from  which  he  has  never  since 
faltered  :  "  Give  me  the  popularity  that  runs  after,  not 
that  which  is  sought  for  "  So  early  was  the  principle  of 
his  political  life  fixed  and  formulated !  Every  office 
that  he  has  held  has  sought  him ;  at  every  step  of 
his  advancement  popularity,  the  only  sort  he  cared  to 
have,  has  followed  him  ;  he  is  and  has  always  been  a 
leader  of  the  people's  unprompted  choice. 

He  has  much  to  say,  from  time  to  time,  of  the  pro 
fession  which  he  has  determined  to  adopt,  and  he  tries 
to  measure,  as  a  college  lad  may,  the  difficulties  before 
him.  Success  will  be  hard,  very  hard,  and  will  come 
only  of  long  and  patient  endeavor  ;  he  knows  that,  but 
he  is  not  dismayed ;  nor  when  he  casually  listens  to  the 
arguments  "  of  some  of  the  first  lawyers  of  the  State," 
in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  is  he  out  of  heart. 
"  They  did  not  equal  my  expectations ;  some  were  in 
deed  most  excellent,  yet  none  were  so  superior  as  to 
discourage  one  from  striving  to  equal  them."  He 
never  disparages  any  antagonist  or  difficulty,  but  he 
quietly  takes  account  of  his  own  powers,  and  decides 


20  LAW   STUDIES  AT   COLUMBUS. 

that  he  can  probably  stand  up  against  the  worst.  That 
is  Rutherford  Hayes  at  nineteen,  and  that  is  Ruther 
ford  Hayes  at  fifty-four. 

In  spite  of  the  misgivings  he  has  had  concerning  his 
scholarship,  and  in  spite  of  the  ridicule  which  his  diary 
heaps  upon  college  exhibitions,  he  is  the  valedictorian 
of  his  graduating  class  ;  and  then,  after  a  few  weeks'  in 
terval,  he  begins  his  legal  studies  in  the  office  of  Messrs. 
Sparrow  and  Matthews,  prominent  lawyers  in  Colum 
bus,  in  the  year  1842.  Thereafter  his  diary  is  largely 
concerned  with  the  progress  he  makes,  or  fails  to  make, 
in  Blackstone,  Chitty,  and  the  rest ;  and  with  what  he 
is  doing  in  German,  which  he  has  taken  up  with  his 
customary  vigor.  He  has  to  lament  that,  besides  read 
ing  such  good  literature  as  Milton  and  Shakespeare,  he 
spends  his  leisure  in  reading  a  great  deal  of  trash  ;  he 
deplores  the  unprofitable  fascination  of  the  newspapers; 
and  he  presently  sets  down  his  "  rules  for  the  month," 
which,  as  he  never  was  a  prig  in  his  life,  we  may 
safely  suppose  he  regularly  violated  :  — 

"  First,  Read  no  newspapers. 

"  Second,  Rise  at  seven  and  retire  at  ten. 

"  Third,  Study  law  six  hours,  German  two,  and  Ch. 
two. 

"  Fourth,  In  reading  «  Black.'s  C'y,'  to  record  my 
difficulties." 

There  is  not  the  slightest  record  of  these  difficulties. 
In  fact,  the  scene  abruptly  changes  from  Columbus,  and 
the  next  entry  is  made  at  Cambridge,  in  August,  1843. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  STUDENT  IN  THE  HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL. 

HAYES  had  been  ten  months  in  the  office  of  Messrs. 
Sparrow  and  Matthews  when  it  was  decided  that  he 
should  enter  the  Harvard  Law  School,  where  the  spe 
cial  advantages  to  which  he  looked  forward  were  "  the 
instructions  of  those  eminent  jurists  and  teachers,  Story 
and  Greenleaf."  Within  the  first  week  he  has  found 
that  he  likes  the  institution,  professors,  and  students  ;  he 
likes  his  room-mate,  Hedges  of  Tiffin ;  he  likes  his  as 
sociates,  mostly  "  Buckeyes,"  like  himself.  He  is  in 
state  of  hopeful  and  joyous  content  with  everybody 
arid  everything  but  himself.  His  irresolution,  his  neg 
lect  of  opportunities,  ought  to  grieve  him,  but  he  is 
perfectly  cheerful  in  spite  of  his  regrets,  and  he  be 
gins  at  once  to  sketch  the  lectures  and  lecturers,  and 
first  of  all  Judge  Story  and  his  introductory  remarks. 
"  He  spoke  at  some  length  of  the  advantage  and  ne 
cessity  of  possessing  complete  control  of  the  temper, 
illustrating  his  view  with  anecdotes  of  his  own  experi 
ence  and  observation.  His  manner  is  very  pleasant,! 
betraying  great  good-humor  and  fondness  for  jesting.^ 
His  most  important  directions  were :  Keep  a  constant 
guard  upon  temper  and  tongue.  Always  have  in  read- 


22  GREENLEAF   AND   STORY. 

iness  some  of  those  unmeaning  but  respectful  formula 
ries  as,  per  ex.,  l  The  learned  gentleman  on  the  opposite 
side,'  4  My  learned  friend  opposite,'  etc.  When  in  the 
library,  employ  yourself  in  reading  the  title-pages  and 
table  of  contents  of  the  books  of  reports  which  it  con 
tains,  and  endeavor  to  get  some  notion  of  their  relative 
value.  Read  Blackstoiie  again  and  again  —  incompa 
rable  for  the  beauty  and  chasteness  of  its  style,  the 
amount  and  profundity  of  its  learning." 

"  AVe  have  no  formal  lectures,"  he  writes  after  the  end 
of  the  first  week.  "  Professors  Story  and  Green  leaf 
illustrate  and  explain  as  they  proceed.  Mr.  G.  is  very 
searching  and  logical  in  examination.  It  is  impossible 
for  one  who  has  not  studied  the  text  to  escape  expos 
ing  his  ignorance  ;  he  keeps  the  subject  constantly  in 
view,  never  stepping  out  of  his  way  for  the  purpose  of 
introducing  his  own  experience.  Judge  Story,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  very  general  in  his  questions,  so  that  per 
sons  well  skilled  in  nods  affirmative,  and  negative  shak 
ings  of  the  head,  need  never  more  than  glance  at  the 
text  to  be  able  to  answer  his  interrogatories.  He  is 
very  fond  of  digressions  to  introduce  amusing  anec 
dotes,  high-wrought  eulogies  of  the  sages  of  the  law, 
and  fragments  of  his  own  experience.  He  is  generally 
very  interesting,  and  often  quite  eloquent.  His  man 
ner  of  speaking  is  almost  precisely  like  that  of  Corwin. 
In  short,  as  a  lecturer  he  is  a  very  different  man  from 
what  you  would  expect  of  an  old  and  eminent  judge ; 
not  but  that  he  is  great,  but  he  is  so  interesting  and 
fond  of  good  stories.  His  amount  of  knowledge  is 


STORY'S  VERSATILITY  AND  HIGH-MINDEDNESS.    23 

prodigious.  Talk  of  'many  irons  in  the  fire'!  Why, 
he  keeps  up  with  the  news  of  the  day  of  all  sorts, 
from  political  to  Wellerisms,  and  new  works  of  all  sorts 
he  reads  at  least  enough  to  form  an  opinion  of,  and  all 
the  while  enjoys  himself  with  a  flow  of  spirits  equal  to 
a  school-boy  in  the  holidays.  So  ho  !  the  measures  of 
literature  are  not  so  small  after  all !  " 

He  quotes  from  Judge  Story,  whose  enthusiasm  for 
Chief  Justice  Marshall  all  the  old  graduates  of  the 
Harvard  Law  School  remember,  the  belief  that  Mar 
shall  was  "  the  growth  of  a  century.  Providence 
grants  such  men  to  the  human  family  only  on  great 

occasions Such  men  are  found  only  when  our 

need  is  the  greatest;  "  and  the  diarist  gives,  from  one  of 
Judge  Story's  discursive  addresses,  a  personal  reminis 
cence  which  affords  a  glimpse,  too  valuable  to  be  lost, 
of  the  noble  and  lofty  mind  whose  ideals  and  impulses 
found  a  quick  response  in  that  of  his  unknown  young 
listener :  — 

"  When  a  young  lawyer,  I  was  told  by  a  member  of 
the  bar  at  which  I  practiced,  who  was  fifteen  years  my 
senior  in  the  profession,  that  he  wished  to  consult  me 
in  a  case  of  conscience.  Said  he,  '  You  are  a  young 
man,  and  I  can  trust  you.  I  want  an  opinion ;  the  case 
is  this :  I  am  engaged  in  an  important  cause,  my  adver 
sary  is  an  obstinate,  self-willed,  self-sufficient  man,  and 
I  have  him  completely  in  my  power.  I  can  crush  his 
whole  case  ;  it  is  in  my  hand,  and  he  does  not  know  it, 
does  not  suspect  it.  I  can  gain  the  case  by  taking  ad 
vantage  of  this  man's  ignorance  and  overweening  confi- 


24  EFFECT   UPON   HAYES. 

dence.  Now  the  point  is,  shall  I  do  it?'  I  answered, 
*  I  think  not.'  *  I  think  not,  too,'  he  replied.  *  I  have 
determined  to  go  into  court  to-morrow,  show  him  his 
error,  and  set  him  right.'  He  did  it.  This  was  forty- 
five  years  ago,  but  I  have  never  forgotten  that  act  nor 
that  man.  lie  is  still  living,  and  I  have  looked  upon 
him  and  his  integrity  as  beyond  all  estimate.  I  would 
trust  him  with  untold  millions,  nay,  with  life,  with 
reputation,  with  all  that  is  dear." 

Judge  Story,  indeed,  seems  to  have  had  a  far  greater 
influence  than  any  other  professor,  at  this  time,  on 
the  young  Ohio  student,  who  sets  down  so  diligently 
the  characteristic  points  of  the  great  jurist's  discourses. 
The  two  men,  with  all  the  vast  disparity  of  their  years, 
traditions,  opportunities,  and  experiences,  had  so  many 
principles  in  common  that  the  younger  could  not  but 
follow  the  elder  mind  in  quick  and  admiring  sympathy. 
They  had  the  same  high  purposes,  balanced  and  ordered 
by  the  same  cool  good  sense  ;  they  both  regarded  noble 
ideals  of  their  profession  in  the  same  practical  way,  and 
found  them  practicable.  Whatever  law  was  lost  upon 
Hayes  in  Story's  lectures  (and  it  is  certain  that  he  was 
never  the  negligent  student  he  too  rigorously  thinks 
himself  from  time  to  time),  no  lesson  concerning  the 
humanity,  the  grandeur,  the  rights  and  duties  of  the 
conscientious  lawyer's  life,  was  wasted  in  his  hearing. 
He  is  even  glad  to  find  that  his  law  library,  which  cost 
S300,  is  sufficient  for  all  legal  necessities  according  to 
Judge  Story,  who  has  been  saying  that  $10,000  would 
furnish  such  a  library  abundantly,  and  $3000  con- 


STORY'S   ADVICE  TO   STUDENTS.  25 

veniently ;  and  he  is  proud  to  record  all  the  facts  in 
the  professor's  knowledge  which  elevate  his  vocation. 
"  Lawyers,  so  far  as  his  observation  extended,  were 
more  eminent  for  morality  and  a  nice  sense  of  honor 
than  any  other  class  of  men.  They  have  the  most  im 
portant  and  delicate  secrets  intrusted  to  them  ;  they 
have  more  power  of  doing  mischief,  and  are  more  in 
strumental  in  healing  family  dissensions,  neighborhood 
feuds,  and  general  ill-blood,  than  any  other  profession." 
He  gives  a  synopsis  of  Story's  closing  lecture  for  the 
term,  in  which  the  students  were  urged  to  lay  a  broad 
and  deep  foundation  of  legal  reading ;  to  remember 
that  the  law  was  a  jealous  mistress,  and  to  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  charmer  Politics  before  forty ;  to  use 
their  young  hopes,  desires,  confidence,  ambition,  and  en 
ergy  only  for  useful  and  noble  ends  ;  and  were  assured 
that  their  master  had  a  pride  and  interest  beyond  their 
conception  in  their  future  success.  "  Pshaw ! "  the  dia 
rist  feels  constrained  to  add  at  the  close  of  his  entry, 
"  how  my  haste  (indecent !)  spoils  the  Old  Man  Elo 
quent  ! " 

Life  had  opened  at  Cambridge  in  a  richness  and 
variety  which  was  vastly  interesting  to  the  eager, 
quick-witted,  whole-hearted  young  Westerner,  and  he 
strove  to  take  in  as  much  of  it  as  he  could.  The 
child  who  had  read  Shakespeare  at  eleven  with  his 
young  sister,  out  in  the  new  Ohio  country,  remote  from 
literature,  the  youth  who  had  nourished  his  love  of 
letters  all  through  his  college-days  upon  the  best  En- 


'26       LONGFELLOW:   BANCROFT;   SPARKS.   DANA. 

glish  poets  and  essayists,  the  law  student  who  takes  up 
German  with  his  Blackstone  and  keeps  his  Shake 
speare  and  Milton  fresh  along  with  his  law -reports 
and  Chitty,  and  finds  even  his  love  of  lighter  literature 
allowed  and  encouraged  by  the  example  of  Justice 
Story,  now  comes,  at  Cambridge,  face  to  face  with  au 
thorship  for  the  first  time,  and  sees  and  hears  the  men 
whose  books  have  been  his  friends.  He  has  the  great 
pleasure,  long  denied  us  Cantabrigians  of  later  times, 
of  hearing  Mr.  Longfellow  lecture/  now  on  Anglo- 
Saxon  literature,  now  on  Goethe,  now  on  other  sub 
jects  in  the  range  of  his  professorship,  and  is  vastly 
content  with  •'  his  style,  manner,  and  matter."  He 
hears  Mr.  Bancroft  address  a  Democratic  meeting  in 
Boston  ;  he  hears  President  Sparks  lecture  on  colonial 
history,  and  the  younger  Dana  on  American  loyalty  ; 
he  goes  often  to  hear  Dr.  Walker,  of  whose  sermons 
he  never  fails  to  give  the  drift,  or  to  testify  to  his 
great  enjoyment  in  them  ;  going  to  the  theatre  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life,  he  sees  Macready  in  Hamlet. 

But  in  spite  of  many  virtuous  resolutions  and  protesta 
tions  to  the  contrary,  Hayes  takes  a  predominant  inter 
est  in  politics,  in  public  men,  and  public  affairs.  He 
fulfills  all  the  duties  of  the  law  student ;  he  is  instant 
at  all  lectures,  and  a  conscientious  reader  of  law  ;  he 
belongs  to  a  law  club  and  a  debating  club  ;  he  is  busy 
in  the  Moot  Court ;  but  he  cannot  keep  away  from  the 
political  meetings  at  which  Webster,  and  Choate,  and 
John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Winthrop,  and  Bancroft  are 


REGRETS  UPON  CLAY'S  DEFEAT.       27 

•speaking.  He  listens,  sketches,  and  judges  them  all.1 
But  all  this  interest  in  politics  came  to  the  end  which 
was  so  tragical  with  the  young  Whigs  of  1844.  Their 
support  of  Henry  Clay  was  a  generous  passion  ;  his 
defeat  was  almost  a  heart-break.  "  I  would  start  in 
the  world  without  a  penny,"  writes  Hayes  on  the  9th 
of  November,  "  if  by  my  sacrifice  Clay  could  be  elected 
President.  Not  that  the  difference  to  the  country  is 
likely  to  be  great,  in  my  opinion  ;  but  then,  to  think 
that  so  good  and  great  a  man  should  be  defeated  ! 
Slandered  as  he  has  been,  it  would  have  been  such  a 
triumph  to  have  elected  him.  But  it  cannot  be,"  he 
continues  with  as  hot  a  regret  as  if  it  were  a  personal 
sorrow.  "  Now  I  must  withdraw  my  thoughts  from 
party  politics,  and  apply  my  whole  energies  to  the 
law." 

At  Cambridge  Hayes  had  been  not  only  pursuing  his 
law  studies  ;  he  had  been  keeping  up  his  German,  and 
reviewing  his  French  and  Greek,  as  well  as  widening 
his  acquaintance  with  literature  in  all  directions.  The 
continual  strain  began  to  tell  upon  his  health,  although 
from  many  self-accusing  entries  in  his  journal  the 
reader  might  infer  that  he  was  anything  but  a  diligent 
student.  He  proposes,  in  the  six  weeks'  vacation  fol 
lowing  the  spring  of  1844,  to  throw  his  books  aside  en 
tirely  for  a  season.  "  Since  I  commenced  the  study  of 
the  law  I  have  taken  no  sufficient  recreation."  He 

1  "  I  heard  some  speakers  in  Marlboro'  Chapel  address  the  Whigs 
of  Boston,"  he  writes  on  one  occasion.  "They  were  good  speakers, 
but  no  better  than  the  good  s {takers  of  Ohio." 


28  LAW   PARTNERSHIP  ;   FAILING   HEALTH. 

spent  this  vacation  at  Columbus,  with  his  family,  and 
returned  again  to  Cambridge  in  the  fall.  Shortly  after, 
he  graduated  from  the  law  school  and  went  to  begin 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Lower  Sandusky,  now 
Fremont.  Ohio.  There  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Mr.  Ralph  P.  Buckland,  since  a  well-known  public 
man  in  Ohio,  and  the  colleague  of  Hayes  in  Congress. 
The  co-partnership  was  of  brief  duration.  Hayes  had 
not  yet  taken  the  recreation  he  had  so  long  denied 
himself,  and  he  began  to  pay  the  penalty  of  overwork. 
His  health  gave  way  entirely ;  he  had  even  the  pre 
monitions  of  consumption,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it 
but  to  make  an  absolute  change. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

TEAVELS     IN     NEW     ENGLAND    AND    TEXAS,    AND    FIRST 
YEARS    IN    CINCINNATI. 

IN  June,  1847,  Hayes  had  resolved  to  go  to  Mexico 
and  take  any  part  in  the  conduct  of  the  war  that  could 
be  assigned  to  the  sort  of  detached  volunteer  he  pro 
posed  to  be.  His  failing  health  obliged  him  to  give  up 
his  profession,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  his  reluctance 
to  appear  idle,  rather  than  his  desire  to  fight  in  that 
unjust  cause,  on  which  he  acted.  u  I  have  no  views 
about  war  other  than  those  of  the  best  Christians,"  he 
writes,  "  and  my  opinion  of  this  war  with  Mexico  is 
that  which  is  common  to  the  Whigs  of  the  North, — 
Tom  Corwin  and  his  admirers,  of  whom  I  am  one." 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  join,  or  take  the  first 
steps  towards  joining,  a  company  of  volunteers  going 
from  Fremont.  He  consented,  however,  at  the  urgerice 
of  his  friends,  to  take  medical  advice  before  finally  de 
ciding  ;  his  physician  in  Cincinnati  resolutely  forbade 
his  enterprise,  and  ordered  him  to  go  not  South  but 
North.  He  very  unwillingly  gave  up  the  design  on 
which  he  had  set  his  mind,  but  he  obeyed,  and  spent  the 
next  summer  in  New  England  and  Canada,  camping 
out  in  the  mountains,  and  visiting  all  the  scenes  of  that 


30  SOJOURN   IN   TEXAS. 

family  history  which  attached  him  so  warmly  to  tin; 
East.  The  journey  failed  to  restore  his  broken  health, 
and  he  recurred  to  his  former  purpose  of  going  South, 
but  he  had  now  relinquished  his  design  of  taking  part 
in  a  war  offensive  to  the  political  and  moral  ideas  of  a 
Corwin  Whig. 

Among  the  college  acquaintance  whose  characters  he 
had  sketched  in  his  first  diary  was  the  young  Texan, 
Guy  M.  Bryan,  of  whom  Hayes  recorded,  with  boyish 
admiration  and  tenderness,  "  He  is  a  real  gentleman, 
holds  his  honor  dear,  respects  the  wishes  and  feelings  of 
others,  is  a  warm  and  constant  friend.  Has  good  tal 
ents He  will,  I  trust,  figure  largely  in  Texan 

history  ;  he  is  a  true  patriot."  The  two  friends  had 
never  lost  sight  of  each  other ;  and  in  the  Rebellion 
they  met  in  arms  on  opposing  sides.  But  in  1847  their 
friendship  was  still  far  from  this,  and  Hayes  resolved  to 
visit  his  old  fellow-student  in  Texas,  where  his  thou 
sands  upon  thousands  of  acres  gave  a  manorial  vastness 
and  state  to  his  home.  The  record  of  this  visit  is  a 
continuous  story  of  delights  of  every  kind  :  balls  and 
parties  at  Bryan's  house,  where  the  troops  of  guests 
come  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and  stay  till  the 
next  day  at  noon  ;  rides  to  and  fro  over  the  prairies  to 
call  upon  Texan  ladies,  who  all  have  the  brilliancy  and 
beauty  that  all  ladies  have  when  one  is  twenty-five ; 
visits  and  parties  in  every  direction ;  shooting  in  a  land 
richly  stocked  with  every  kind  of  game,  and  excursions 
to  the  wild  Texan  towns,  picturesque  with  the  admired 
disorder  joi  life  on  the  borders  of  a  great  war,  their 


A  TEXAN   SPORTSMAN.  31 

streets  full  of  backwoodsmen,  soldiers,  gamblers,  advent 
urers,  and  dramatic  with  the  occasional  exploits  of  a 
Texan  statesman,  who  electioneers  for  the  United 
States  Senate  by  riding  through  the  capital  and  exhibit 
ing  all  the  feats  of  Comanche  horsemanship.  These 
amusements,  and  a  long  gallop  through  Northwestern 
Texas  to  visit  a  distant  estate  of  the  Bryans',  form 
the  perfect  change  and  the  entire  rest  from  study 
needed  to  accomplish  the  end  desired,  and  Hayes 
goes  home  restored  to  health  which  has  never  since 
broken. 

He  had  gone  to  Texas  by  way  of  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Gulf,  and  his  diary  abounds  with  sketches,  slight 
but  graphic,  of  the  life  and  character  on  a  Western 
steamboat,  which  he  sees  with  Dickens-like  quickness, 
but  paints  as  if  merely  to  secure  his  own  sense  of  it, 
and  not  for  any  literary  effect.  In  Texas  he  had  less 
time  or  disposition  to  write,  but  here,  as  elsewhere,  he 
was  a  keen  and  constant  observer.  One's  surprise 
is  therefore  all  the  greater  not  to  find  in  his  journal 
a  single  expression  directly  referring  to  slavery.  He 
may  have  felt  it  a  sort  of  disloyalty  to  his  hospitable 
friend  to  criticise  the  institution  with  which  his  pros 
perity  was  bound  up  ;  he  is  the  man  to  have  obeyed 
such  a  chivalrous  instinct ;  at  any  rate,  the  only  passage 
touching  slavery,  or  its  influence  on  either  race,  occurs 
in  an  account  of  a  visit  to  a  remote  planter,  whom  he 
found  "  very  fond  of  telling  his .  own  experience  and 

talking  of    his    own  affairs The  haughty   and 

imperious  port   of   a  man  develops  rapidly  on  one  of 


32  NOT    AN   ORIGINAL    ABOLITIONIST. 

these  lonely  sugar  plantations,  where  the  owner  rarely 
meets  with  any  except  his  slaves  and  minions." 

In  those  reminiscences  of  Chloe  Hayes  by  her  grand 
children,  from  which  we  have  already  quoted,  one  of 
the  granddaughters  says,  "  When  grandfather  would 
boast  that  he  was  not  shifted  about  with  every  new 
tide  of  opinion,  she  would  remind  him  that  he  was  con 
verted  in  one  hour  from  faith  in  colonization  to  rank 
abolitionism.  This,  I  think,  was  from  reading  some 
thing  on  the  subject."  Probably  Hayes  had  received 
the  right  principles  by  inheritance  ;  he  showed  often 
enough  afterwards  what  his  sympathies  had  always 
been  ;  nevertheless  it  was  long  before  he  became  an  act 
ive  political  opponent  of  slavery,  though  he  had  been 
a  Whig  of  the  Clay  and  Corwin  antislavery  school  from 
the  first.  His  mind  is  essentially  legal  and  conserva 
tive,  and  the  respect  for  law  and  fidelity  to  the  consti 
tution  and  its  guarantees  inherent  in  him  had  been 
strengthened  by  his  admiration  for  Story  and  his  opin 
ions.  He  might  think  at  least  one  of  the  constitutional 
guarantees  atrocious,  but  he  did  not  question  its  exist 
ence,  and  it  was  not  till  slavery  became  openly  aggress 
ive  that  he  began  to  fight  it.  He  remained,  with 
whatever  misgivings,  a  Whig  till  the  formation  of  the 
anti-Nebraska  party  upon  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise. 

The  first  indication  of  what  may  long  have  been  in 
his  thought  upon  the  subject  is  in  an  entry  in  his  jour 
nal  in  1850.  Even  this  is  indirect,  and  is  one  of  many 
passages  he  quotes  from  Mrs.  Adams's  Letters,  which 
he  was  then  reading :  "  Speaking  of  a  conspiracy  among 


COMMENT   ON   WEBSTER'S   FALL.  33 

the  negroes  to  aid  the  British  against  their  masters,  she 
says,  *  I  wish  most  sincerely  there  was  not  a  slave  in 
the  Province.  It  always  appeared  a  most  iniquitous 
scheme  to  me  to  fight,  ourselves,  for  what  we  are  daily 
robbing  and  plundering  from  those  who  have  as  good  a 
right  to  freedom  as  we  have.' " 

A  few  months  later  he  copies  into  his  journal,  as  if 
it  had  made  a  deep  impression  on  him,  the  whole  of 
Whittier's  poem  of  "  Ichabod,"  which  he  introduces  with 
a  significant  passage  :  "  There  is  much  discussion  in  the 
political  circles  as  to  Mr.  Webster's  recent  movements 
on  the  slavery  question.  I  am  one  of  those  who  ad 
mire  his  genius  but  have  little  confidence  in  his  integ 
rity.  I  regret  that  he  has  taken  a  course  so  contrary 
to  that  which  he  has  hitherto  pursued  on  this  subject. 
I  saw  the  following  lines  by  Whittier  in  *  The  New  Era,^ 
which  can  only  refer  to  the  godlike  Daniel." 

In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  he  remained  a  Whig, 
and  doubtless  still  hoped  good  things  from  a  party  that 
had  meant  so  much  good.  The  next  year  he  meets 
General  Scott,  and  in  his  fashion  describes  the  person 
and  bearing  of  the  soldier,  of  whom  he  pronounces,  at 
the  close  of  his  entry,  "  He  'II  do  for  President"  Un 
happily,  he  did  not  do  ;  but  — 

"God  fulfills  himself  in  many  ways," 

and  doubtless  the  Democratic  success  was  in  his  prov 
idence. 

On  his  way  back  to  his  former  residence  in  North 
ern  Ohio,  after  the  Texan  sojourn  already  mentioned, 


34  LITERARY   CLUB  ;    EMERSON. 

Hayes  had  stopped  in  Cincinnati,  and  decided  to 
make  that  city  his  home.  He  formed  a  law  partner 
ship,  and  in  the  leisure  of  waiting  for  business  reviewed 
his  legal  studies,  and  read  widely  of  the  current  liter 
ature,  comments  and  criticisms  on  which  occupy  a  large 
space  in  his  journal.  He  early  became  a  member  of 
the  Literary  Club  of  Cincinnati,  established  nearly  half 
a  century  ago,  and  including  jurists  and  statesmen  like 
Chase,  Cor  win,  Ewing,  Charles  P.  James,  Hoadley,  and 
Matthews,  artists  like  Baird,  clergymen  like  Conway, 
with  journalists,  and  whoever  else  loved  letters  in  a 
city  always  first  in  culture  in  the  West.  With  many 
registered  vows  "  to  speak  regularly  at  the  club," 
Hayes  rarely  shared  in  its  discussions,  but  its  meetings 
were  always  times  of  the  greatest  pleasure  to  him,  and 
for  twelve  years  the  club  was  "  an  important  part  of 
his  life,"  as  he  wrote  one  "  club-night "  in  his  camp  on 
the  Kanawha,  fondly  recalling  the  club-nights  of  the 
past,  and  dwelling  on  their  associations  and  enjoyments. 
He  was,  indeed,  one  of  those  non-literary  men  who 
take  a  purer  and  finer  delight  in  literature  than  is,  per 
haps  possible  to  the  professional  litterateur  ;  and  such 
an  event  as  Mr.  Emerson's  delivery,  in  Cincinnati,  of  a 
course  of  lectures,  in  1850,  finds  an  ampler  record  in 
his  diary  than  any  other  event  of  the  time.  He  heard 
every  one  of  the  lectures,  and  he  reports  the  leading 
points  of  all  in  his  journal.  He  had  from  his  college 
days  had  a  great  love  of  metaphysics,  and  his  reading 
had  embraced  the  German  as  well  as  the  English  philos- 


OBJECT   IN   READING.  35 

ophy.  But  his  favorite  author  (liked,  however,  with 
his  own  critical  reservations)  was  Emerson,  whom  he 
read  with  an  enjoyment  equaled  only  by  the  delight 
he  took  in  another  supreme  genius,  —  Hawthorne. 

The  general  reading  of  this  young  lawyer,  even 
after  business  began  to  accumulate  on  his  hands,  was 
as  great  as  that  of  most  men  of  literary  life  ;  but  the 
difference  was  that  he  never  read  for  a  literary  pur 
pose,  as  men  of  letters  do.  He  is  as  far  as  possible 
removed  from  the  merely  literary  temperament.  It 
was  to  find  out  what  an  author  had  to  say,  not  to  see 
how  he  said  it,  that  Hayes  read  books,  and  his  criticisms 
on  what  he  read,  though  they  show  his  sensibility  to  the 
charms  of  style,  are  always  more  concerned  with  mat 
ter  than  with  manner.  Men,  character,  life,  are  his 
study,  not  art ;  and  it  is  observable  that  the  books 
which  most  interest  him  are  those  whose  substance  is 
of  vastly  greater  importance  than  their  form.  He 
delights  in  the  novelists,  and  each  new  fiction  of 
Hawthorne,  Thackeray,  Dickens,  Bulwer,  is  a  sensa 
tion  marked  in  his  diary  ;  but  when  he  comes  casually 
and  tardily  upon  the  life  and  writings  of  Channing, 
page  after  page  of  comment  and  quotation  manifests 
his  intenser  interest.  He  views  the  whole  matter  of 
reading  from  an  unliterary  point,  yet  there  is  a  shrewd 
suggestiveness  in  many  of  his  references  to  it  which 
could  not  have  been  more  aptly  appreciative  if  he  had 
—  shall  we  say  ?  —  been  writing  a  book-notice.  "  I 
am  going  to  sip  a  little  from  Sterne's  *  Tristram 
Shandy,' "  he  writes ;  "  enough  to  test  its  qualities. 


36       ALWAYS   A   THOROUGH   STUDENT    OF  POLITICS. 

One  ought  to  read  these  '  of-course '  books,  which 
every  one  reads,  or  claims  to  have  read,  as  '  Don 
Quixote,'  which  is  good,  '  Gil  Bias,'  which  is  n't  good, 
etc.,"  —  a  judgment  which  evinces  a  clear,  if  too  se 
vere,  sense  of  the  difference  between  the  solid  Spanish 
silver  and  the  French  plate. 

He  seems,  like  Justice  Story,  to  have  always  es 
teemed  his  love  of  Literature  a  comparatively  guiltless 
treason  to  that  jealous  mistress,  the  Law;  it  is  the 
other  siren,  Politics,  that  he  is  always  protesting  his 
immovable  purpose  of  having  nothing  to  do  with.  Yet 
it  requires  no  great  penetration  in  the  reader  of  his 
diary  to  perceive  that  from  first  to  last  his  heart  was 
largely  given  to  what  must  in  every  republic  occupy 
the  natural  leader  of  men.  This  shows  itself  in  many 
ways,  in  none  more  distinctly  than  in  his  very  resolu 
tions  against  the  tendency  ;  and  the  note-books,  diaries, 
and  scrap-books  placed  at  the  present  writer's  disposal 
testify  that  no  public  man  now  living  has  made  a  fuller, 
carefuller  study  of  politics  —  which  is  but  another  name 
for  contemporary  history  —  than  this  man  who  has  al 
ways  refused  to  be  a  professional  politician.  They  tes 
tify  to  two  qualities  more  important  to  us  in  a  Presi 
dent  than  any  other  except  that  clean  conscience  and 
high  purpose  which  all  concede  to  be  his  :  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  situation  and  of  the  events  tending 
to  it  during  the  last  thirty  years;  and  the  gift,  long  cul 
tivated  and  exercised,  of  judging  men. 

In  1852  Hayes  supported  Scott  with  the  self-devo 
tion  characteristic  of  the  Whigs  in  that  canvas,  but 


CONSOLATIONS  IN   DEFEAT.  37 

with  no  hopefulness,  and  with  no  effort  to  conceal 
from  himself  the  fact  that  it  was  only  a  question  be 
tween  men.  During  the  summer  he  made  some  polit 
ical  speeches,  "  neither  very  good  nor  very  bad,"  accord 
ing  to  his  thinking,  but  "  enough  to  satisfy  me  that 
with  a  motive  in  my  heart  and  work,  I  could  do  it 
creditably.  I  would  like  to  see  General  Scott  elected 
President,  but  there  is  so  little  interest  felt  by  the  great 
body  of  thinking  men  that  I  shall  not  be  surprised 
at  his  defeat.  Indeed,  my  mind  is  prepared  for  such 
a  result.  The  real  grounds  of  difference  upon  impor 
tant  political  questions  no  longer  correspond  with  party 
lines.  The  progressive  Whig  is  nearer  in  sentiment 
to  the  radical  Democrat  than  the  radical  Democrat 
is  to  fogies  of  his  own  party,  and  vice  versa."  After 
the  election  he  writes,  "  My  candidate,  General  Scott, 
is  defeated  by  the  most  overwhelming  vote  ever  re 
corded  in  this  country.  A  good  man,  a  kind  man,  a 
brave  man,  a  true  patriot,  General  Scott  no  doubt 
deserves  defeat,  if  undue  anxiety  to  be  elected  can  be 
said  to  deserve  such  treatment ; "  which  is  not  at  all 
the  fervent  regret  with  which  he  had  chronicled  the  de 
feat  of  Clay,  but  sufficiently  well  reflects  the  mood  of 
most  Whigs  of  the  time. 

Neither  then,  nor  at  any  time,  as  we  have  already 
expressed,  did  Hayes  cease  to  care  for  politics  of  the 
higher  sort.  But  at  this  time  his  best  energies  were 
given  to  different  work.  They  were  devoted  to  saving 
from  juridical  injustice  a  wretched  girl  on  trial  for  her 
life. 


38  HIS   FffiST   GREAT   LAW  CASE. 

The  Nancy  Fairer  case  was  one  that  in  its  time 
caused  intense  sensation  throughout  Ohio,  and  its  event 
established  in  law  the  principle  which  medicine  had 
long  recognized,  that  an  insane  person  is  not  morally 
responsible  for  a  criminal  act,  although  entirely  sen 
sible  of  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong.  This 
hapless  creature,  wholly  in  the  power  of  the  man  who 
instigated  her  crimes,  poisoned  two  families ;  the  really 
responsible  author  of  her  act  escaped,  never  to  be 
found,  and  she  remained,  with  her  helpless  admission  of 
all  the  facts,  the  subject  of  the  greatest  popular  ex 
citement,  and  the  object  of  a  horror  that  prejudged 
her  from  the  first,  and  seemed  to  make  her  fate  certain. 

By  a  chance  which  gave  her  life,  and  her  advocate 
reputation  and  standing  among  the  first  of  his  profes 
sion,  Hayes  was  appointed  by  the  judge  of  the  criminal 
court  to  conduct  her  defense.  He  instantly  recognized 
his  opportunity.  "  It  is  the  criminal  case  of  the  term," 
he  writes  ;  "  will  attract  more  notice  than  any  other,  and 
if  I  am  well  prepared  will  give  me  a  better  opportunity 
to  exert  and  exhibit  whatever  pith  there  is  in  me  than 
any  case  I  ever  appeared  in ; "  and  he  goes  on  at  once 
to  sketch  the  line  of  his  defense,  to  make  memoranda 
of  what  he  shall  read,  and  how  he  shall  bring  to  bear 
on  the  case  his  "  favorite  notions  as  to  the  effect  of 
original  constitution  and  early  training  in  forming  char 
acter"  and  diminishing  responsibility. 

In  Nancy  Farrer,  origin,  training,  and  associations 
were  all  of  the  worst  sort ;  her  father  had  died  a  sot  in 
the  hospital,  her  mother  was  insane ;  with  such  parent- 


NANCY  FARREB  AND  HER   CRIME.  39 

age  what  must  her  life,  her  mind  be  ?  Once  under  the 
sway  of  the  real  murderer,  who  had  won  the  wretched 
creature's  love  in  order  the  better  lo  enslave  her  will, 
she  had  no  volition  of  her  own,  and  she  had  poisoned 
half  a  score  of  persons  without  compunction  or  any  ap 
parent  sense  of  the  crime. 

In  court  the  popular  feeling  against  her  was  height 
ened  by  the  repulsive  plainness  and  brutality  of  her 
face.  Yet  her  advocate  was  firmly  convinced  that  she 
was  not  morally  a  free  agent,  and  he  rested  her  defense 
entirely  upon  that  fact ;  every  other  fact  of  the  case  he 
fully  and  freely  conceded.  Till  that  time  it  had  been 
the  custom  of  the  courts  to  demand  of  the  medical  ex 
perts  whether  they  believed  the  prisoner  under  trial 
knew  right  from  wrong,  and  on  the  admission  of  such 
a  belief  jurors  were  charged  to  find  according  to  the 
facts.  Hayes  took  his  stand  with  the  humaner  science 
upon  the  higher  ground.  He  studied  the  whole  subject 
of  insanity  in  its  relation  to  crime,  and  among  the  des 
ultory  memoranda  of  his  diary  is  a  passage  that  seems 
to  have  formed  the  nucleus  of  his  argument :  "  Dr. 
Bell,  of  the  McLean  Asylum,  testifies,  *  I  consider  that 
insane  persons  generally  know  the  difference  between 
right  and  wrong.' "  His  argument  made  a  vivid  impres 
sion  upon  the  jury  and  the  public,  and  gave  him  name 
and  fame  at  once.  He  seems  (we  infer  again  from 
the  data  mentioned)  to  have  told  the  jury  the  pathetic 
story  of  Mary  Lamb,  impelled  against  her  own  will  to 
slay  her  father  and  mother,  and  adjured  them  to  see 
the  parity  between  her  case  and  that  of  the  wretch 


40  PLEA   BEFORE  THE  JURY. 

before  them.  "  Awful  as  are  the  tragedies  which  she 
has  been  the  instrument  —  as  I  believe,  the  uncon 
scious  instrument  — -  of  committing,  their  horror  sinks 
into  insignificance  when  compared  with  the  solemn  and 
deliberate  execution,  by  reasoning,  thinking  men,  of 
such  a  being  as  she.  On  the  subject  of  insanity  I  have 
asked  more  than  is  sustained  by  the  weight  of  judicial 
opinion  even  in  this  country.  But  I  suppose  that 
when  the  facts  and  principles  of  any  science  come  to 
be  so  well  established  that  they  are  universally  recog 
nized  and  adopted  by  the  most  intelligent  as  well  as  the 
most  conservative  members  of  the  profession  which 
deals  with  that  science,  it  is  in  strict  harmony  with  the 
expansive  and  liberal  rules  of  the  common  law  that 
courts  should  also  recognize  and  adopt  those  facts  and 
principles.  The  calamity  of  insanity  is  one  which  may 
touch  very  nearly  the  happiness  of  the  best  of  our  citi 
zens.  "We  all  know  that  in  some  of  its  thousand  forms 
it  has  carried  grief  and  agony  unspeakable  into  many  a 
happy  home  ;  and  we  must  all  wish  to  see  such  rules 
in  regard  to  it  established  as  would  satisfy  an  intelligent 
man  if,  instead  of  this  friendless  girl,  his  own  sister  or 
his  own  daughter  were  on  trial.  And  surely  to  establish 
such  rules  will  be  a  most  noble  achievement  of  that  in 
telligence  and  reason  which  God  has  given  to  you,  but 
denied  to  her  whose  fate  is  in  your  hands." 

In  spite  of  the  sober  eloquence  and  the  logic  of  his 
plea,  the  girl  was  found  guilty  on  the  old  ground  that 
if  she  knew  right  from  wrong  she  was  answerable  for 
her  crime.  He  applied  for  a  writ  of  error,  and  the 


SUCCESS  IN   THE   SUPREME  COURT.  41 

question  was  reserved  for  decision  in  the  Ohio  supreme 
court,  before  which  Hayes  appeared  in  her  behalf,  in 
December,  1853,  more  than  a  year  after  the  convic 
tion. 

He  had  already  argued  his  first  case  in  the  supreme 
court,  on  a  similar  appeal,  when  an  incident  occurred 
which  bears  witness  at  once  to  his  power  and  his  mod 
esty.  In  that  day  it  was  the  custom  for  lawyers  argu 
ing  before  that  court  to  take  their  places  at  a  certain 
table  in  the  centre  of  the  court-room.  It  is  related  by 
one  of  the  eye-witnesses  that  Hayes  laid  down  his  pa 
pers  on  a  desk  in  one  corner  and  began  to  speak.  As 
he  went  on,  the  closeness  and  clearness  of  his  argument 
fixed  the  attention  of  all.  Presently  one  of  the  judges 
interrupted  him.  "  Mr.  Hayes,"  he  said,  "  the  court  is 
desirous  not  to  lose  a  word  of  what  you  are  saying. 
Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  come  forward  to  the  table 
in  the  centre  of  the  room  ?  "  The  young  advocate  ad 
vanced  and  finished  a  plea  which,  though  unsuccessful, 
was  pronounced  by  Thomas  Ewing  "  the  best  first 
speech  "  he  had  ever  heard  in  the  supreme  court.  His 
plea  in  behalf  of  Nancy  Farrer  was  triumphant,  and" 
convinced  the  judges  while  it  moved  every  listener  by 
its  profound  pathos.  The  decision  of  the  court  estab 
lished  a  point  to  which  all  similar  defenses  for  insanity 
have  since  referred  and  must  refer ;  the  motion  for  a 
new  trial  was  granted.  But  a  new  trial  did  not  take 
place.  An  inquest  of  lunacy  found  Nancy  Farrer  of  un 
sound  mind,  and  she  was  sent  to  an  asylum,  where  she 
died  a  few  years  after.  On  the  day  when  the  result  of 


42        PRINCIPLE  ESTABLISHED   BY   THE  RESULT. 

the  inquest  was  reached,  Hayes  recorded  the  fact  with 
modest  satisfaction,  and  his  usual  temperance  of  state 
ment  ;  and  we  cannot  better  indicate  the  effect  upon  him 
self  and  his  interests  than  by  giving  his  own  straightfor 
ward  phrase :  "  She  will  now  go  to  a  lunatic  asylum, 
and  so  my  first  case  involving  life  is  ended  successfully. 
It  has  been  a  pet  case  with  me  ;  has  caused  me  much 
anxiety,  given  me  some  prominence  in  my  profession, 
and  indeed  was  the  first  case  which  brought  me  practice 
in  the  city.  It  has  turned  out  fortunately  for  me  — 
very,  and  I  am  greatly  gratified  that  it  is  so.  I  argued 
the  case  in  December,  '53,  before  the  supreme  court,  at 
Columbus ;  made  a  successful  argument.  The  judgment 
of  the  court  below  was  reversed  in  an  opinion  fully  sus 
taining  my  leading  positions.  The  case  is  reported  in 
2d  Ohio  State  Reps.,  Farrer  versus  State." 

Among  the  notes  in  Hayes's  diary  apparently  sketch 
ing  the  line  of  his  argument  before  the  supreme  court, 
a  point  is  made  which  we  could  not  leave  untouched 
without  doing  injustice  to  his  attitude  in  the  case ; 
an  attitude  which  distinguishes  his  defense  from  mul 
tiplied  instances  in  which  the  plea  of  insanity  has 
been  made  before  and  since.  "  There  is  no  fact," 
he  says,  "more  essential  to  crime  than  the  posses 
sion  of  reason.  The  existence  of  this  fact  the  law 
properly  presumes.  But  if  that  presumption  is  denied, 
if  there  is  evidence  tending  to  overthrow  it,  why  not 
apply  to  that  evidence  the  same  humane  maxim  which 
is  extended  to  every  other  presumption  of  the  law? 
The  only  answer  I  find  to  this  inquiry  is  that  the  safety 


ARGUMENT  BEFORE  THE  SUPREME  COURT.   43 

and  protection  of  society  require  this  departure  from 
principle,  that  otherwise  the  defense  of  insanity  would 
be  successfully  interposed  in  cases  where,  in  truth,  de 
pravity,  not  insanity,  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  crime. 
It  is  needless  to  remark,  in  reply,  that  every  presump 
tion  for  the  protection  of  innocence  is  liable  to  be  used 
as  a  shield  for  guilt.  The  question  is  still  to  be  an 
swered,  Why  is  the  defense  of  insanity  to  be  treated 
as  odious  by  the  law  ?  Is  it  so  peculiarly  liable  to 
abuse  that  fundamental  rules  are  to  be  changed  to  guard 
society  against  it  ?  On  the  contrary,  I  believe  it  has 
been  shown  by  those  who  have  investigated  the  subject, 
the  danger  is  in  the  opposite  direction  ;  that  until  a  re 
cent  period  there  were  ten  insane,  and  therefore  inno 
cent,  persons  who  suffered  punishment  to  one  criminal 
who  escaped  on  the  pretext  of  insanity  ;  and  that  now, 
in  view  of  the  state  of  the  law  and  the  prejudices  of 
the  community,  injustice  is  more  frequently  done  to  the 
insane  accused  than  to  the  public.  I  admit  that  cases 
are  occurring  frequently  in  which  this  defense  is  set 
up  and  the  accused  acquitted,  when  there  is  in  truth 
very  little  that  looks  like  permanent  and  real  insanity. 
But  what  are  these  cases  ?  Are  they  cases  of  feigned 
insanity,  cases  in  which  the  jury  are  deceived,  and 
acquit  the  accused  because  they  are  deceived?  Far 
from  it.  They  are  cases  in  which  verdicts  of  acquit 
tal  are  rendered  against  the  rigorous  requirements  of 
the  law,  because  the  juries  are  satisfied  that  the  acts 
charged  ....  do  not  evince  '  a  heart  regardless  of 
social  duty,  and  fatally  bent  on  mischief.'  They  are 


44  DEFENSE   OF   INSANITY   NOT   ODIOUS. 

cases  in  which  the  accused  has  suffered  some  great 
wrong  for  which  the  law  provides  no  adequate  remedy." 
Then,  citing  several  cases  in  which  women  have  killed 
their  seducers,  he  continues :  "  In  all  these  cases  the 
defense  was  insanity,  the  verdict  acquittal;  but  the 
verdict  would  have  been  the  same  on  any  other  plea. 
Nobody  is  deceived  by  the  defense.  Insanity  is  set  up 
because  under  that  defense  more  conveniently  than 
under  any  other  the  story  of  the  wrong  suffered  by  the 
accused  can  be  spread  before  the  jury.  The  general 
sense  of  the  community  approves  these  verdicts  of  ac 
quittal,  because  it  is  felt  that  the  best  person  in  the 
community  might,  under  the  same  circumstances,  com 
mit  the  same  act;  because  there  is  no  other  redress  for 
such  a  wrong;  because,  finally,  the  slain  deserves  his 
fate.  We  submit  that  the  defense  of  insanity  is  not 
to  be  regarded  as  odious  in  the  law  because  of  these 
cases.  The  same  verdict  would  be  rendered  in  the 
same  cases  if  the  plea  of  self-defense  were  set  up." 

His  success  in  Nancy  Farrer's  case  not  only  brought 
her  advocate  reputation  and  much  general  business, 
but  naturally  attracted  to  him  other  cases  involving 
life.  During  the  times  of  the  fugitive  slave  cases  Hayes 
appeared  in  a  good  many,  and  notably  in  the  famous 
Rosetta  case,  when  he  was  associated  with  Chief-Jus 
tice  Chase  and  Judge  Timothy  Walker.  The  former 
referred  to  him,  in  a  letter  written  a  friend,  as  "  Mr.  R. 

B.  Hayes,  a  young  lawyer  of  great  promise I 

was  most  ably  supported  by  Judge  Walker,  while  Hayes 
acquitted  himself  with  great  distinction  in  the  defense 
of  Rosetta  before  Pendery." 


LAW    PARTNERSHIPS  ;    MARRIAGE.  45 

At  the  close  of  the  Nancy  Farrer  case,  Mr.  Hayes 
had  been  five  years  in  the  practice  of  the  law  at 
Cincinnati,  at  first  alone  and  afterwards  with  various 
partners.  In  1854  he  went  into  partnership  with 
Messrs.  R.  M.  Corwine  and  W.  K.  Rogers,  both  law 
yers  of  note  ;  and  with  the  latter  he  formed  one  of 
those  lasting  friendships  characteristic  of  a  man  who 
has  had  few  intimacies;  his  friends  have  been  those 
who  valued  him  for  himself,  not  for  what  he  could  do 
for  them ;  and  such  alone  know  the  depth  and  cor 
diality  of  his  regard. 

On  the  30th  of  December,  1852,  he  was  united  in  a 
marriage  which  has  formed  the  crowning  happiness  of 
a  singularly  prosperous  and  happy  life,  with  Miss  Lucy 
Ware  Webb,  of  Cincinnati.  Her  family  was  Ken- 
tuckian,  of  that  sort  which  seems  to  assemble  in  itself 
whatever  is  fine  and  good  in  the  Southern  civilization, 
but  she  was  herself  born  in  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  where 
her  father,  Dr.  James  Webb,  formerly  of  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  had  been  long  in  practice.  Her  great-grand 
father  had,  like  her  husband's,  been  an  officer  of  the 
Revolution ;  and  other  ancestors  had  been  people  of 
note  and  substance  in  their  native  State.  Her  father 
was  for  many  years  a  colonizationist,  but  he  died  with 
out  carrying  out  his  plans  regarding  the  slaves  on  the 
family  estate  in  Kentucky,  and  his  children,  after  his 
death,  freed  them  without  conditions.  The  grateful 
blacks  at  once  came  to  Ohio  and  settled  as  near  their 
late  owners  as  possible,  where  they  long  remained  in 
the  performance  of  all  kinds  of  imaginary  services, 


46  SURVIVING  CHILDREN. 

and  the  receipt  of  a  substantial  support,  —  as  no  doubt 
justly  happened  in  many  other  cases  of  manumission. 

Of  the  eight  children  of  Governor  Hayes,  five  are 
living ;  the  eldest  is  now  a  student  of  the  Cambridge 
Law  School,  as  his  father  was  before  him,  though  the 
younger  Hayes  is  a  graduate  of  Cornell. 


CHAPTER   V. 

FIRST    PUBLIC    SERVICES. 

IT  is  the  recollection  of  those  who  best  remember 
Hayes  as  a  lawyer  that,  though  he  could  rise  equal  to 
occasion  and  make  a  great  argument  in  a  great  case 
like  that  of  Nancy  Farrer,  he  preferably  shunned  fo 
rensic  displays  in  the  conduct  of  his  cases.  I  He  was 
one  of  those  lawyers,  not  at  all  so  rare  as  the  general 
fame  of  the  profession  would  imply,  who  discourage 
litigation  in  their  clients.!  When  clients  would  go  to 
law,  he  sought  if  possible  to  transact  their  business  in 
court  by  the  plainest  statements  to  the  jury,  by  quiet 
conferences  with  the  judge  and  sober  argument  with 
the  opposing  counsel. 

He  was  a  successful  lawyer,  but  the  time  was  coming 
when,  according  to  the  testimony  of  some  in  his  confi 
dence,  he  found  mere  legal  success  unsatisfying.  From 
1856  to  1860  were  the  years  when  any  man  conscious 
of  the  power  to  direct  and  influence  the  popular  feeling 
for  good  could  hardly  remain  quiescent  without  self- 
reproach.  Yet  the  temperament,  the  self-education, 
the  inherited  and  sturdily  trained  character  of  Hayes, 
all  forbade  him  to  seek  office.  He  could  follow  and 
he  could  lead  without  that,  and  during  the  days  of  the 


48  THE   FREMONT   CAMPAIGN. 

Republican  party's  formation  we  find  him  taking  part 
in  the  general  movement,  privately  and  publicly,  with 
out  view  to  any  personal  result. 

In  his  journals  there  is  little  record  of  his  share  in 
the  Fremont  campaign  of  1856.  Nevertheless  he  very 
actively  engaged  in  the  canvass,  and  addressed  public 
meetings  at  Cincinnati  and  elsewhere,  with  constantly 
mounting  enthusiasm  for  the  work.  Under  a  wood  en 
graving  of  Fremont  in  his  diary  he  briefly  writes,  "  Not 
a  good  picture,  but  will  do  to  indicate  my  politics  this 
year :  free  States  against  new  slave  States  ;  "  and  a  little 
later  he  says,  "  I  feel  seriously  the  probable  defeat  of 
the  cause  of  freedom  in  the  approaching  presidential 
election.  Before  the  October  elections  in  Pennsylvania 
and  Indiana,  I  was  confident  Colonel  Fremont  would  be 

elected But  after  all,  the  good  cause  has  made 

great  progress.  Antislavery  sentiment  has  been  cre 
ated,  and  the  people  have  been  educated,  to  a  large 
extent.  I  did  hope  that  this  election  would  put  an 
end  to  angry  discussion  upon  this  exciting  topic,  by 
placing  the  general  government  in  the  right  position  in 
regard  to  it,  and  thereby  securing  to  antislavery  effort  a 
foothold  among  those  who  have  the  evil  in  their  midst. 
But  further  work  is  to  be  done,  and  my  sense  of  duty 
determines  me  ....  to  aid  in  forming  a  public  opinion 
on  this  subject  which  will  «  mitigate  and  finally  eradicate 
the  evil.'  I  must  study  the  subject,  and  am  now  begin 
ning  with  Clarkson's  '  History  of  the  Abolition  of  the 
Slave  Trade/  "  Then  follow  entries  showing  how  thor 
oughly  he  does  study  the  subject  in  the  whole  history  of 


A   THOROUGH   ANTISLAVERY    MAN.  49 

the  antislavery  movement  from  its  commencement  in 
England.  "  How  similar  the  struggle  to  that  now  going 
on  here  !  The  same  arguments  pro  and  con,  the  same 
prejudices  appealed  to,  the  same  epithets  of  reproach, 
the  same  topics  !  On  one  side  justice,  humanity,  free 
dom  ;  on  the  other,  prejudice,  interest,  selfishness,  timid 
ity,  conservatism ;  the  advocates  of  right  called  en 
thusiasts,  fanatics,  and  incendiaries Thousands 

whose  hearts  and  judgment  were  on  the  side  of  aboli 
tion  were  silent  because  loss  of  trade,  of  practice,  of 
social  or  political  position,  was  likely  to  follow  an  open 
avowal  of  their  opinions.  In  short,  the  parallel  be 
tween  that  struggle  and  this  is  complete  thus  far.  I 
shall  be  content  if  it  so  continue  to  the  end.  The  elec 
tion  of  day  after  to-morrow  is  the  first  pitched  battle. 
However  fares  the  cause,  I  am  enlisted  for  the  war." 

Two  years  after  the  defeat  that  gave  us  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  for  President  and  the  enemies  of  the  nation  for 
our  masters,  Hayes  was  chosen  to  his  first  public  office. 
One  of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  City  Council 
believed  too  firmly  in  Hayes's  integrity  and  ability  to 
vote  against  him  ;  he  voted  for  Hayes,  and  by  one  ma 
jority  the  Council  thus  elected  him  City  Solicitor,  to 
fill  a  vacancy  occasioned  in  that  office  by  death.  His 
election  was  received  with  expressions  of  friendly  re 
gard  and  with  acknowledgments  of  his  fitness  for  the 
place  even  by  the  press  of  the  party  desiring  his  defeat, 
and  one  newspaper  recorded  to  his  honor  a  fact  which 
throws  a  vivid  light  on  his  character  as  a  politician : 
"  Though  ten  years  in  the  city,  Mr.  Hayes  was  never 
4 


50  CITY   SOLICITOR   OF   CINCINNATI. 

in  the  chamber  of  the  City  Fathers  till  the  day  after 
his  election."  "  I  like  the  looks  of  Hayes,"  said  one 
of  the  councilmen  on  the  advent  of  this  stranger  among 
them.  "  He  has  the  appearance  of  a  gentleman,  and 
it  is  some  comfort  to  talk  to  him ;  "  a  Democrat  as 
sented  that  he  was  "  very  pleasant  —  for  a  Black  Re 
publican."  In  the  following  April  his  personal  pop 
ularity  was  more  substantially  attested  by  his  reelection 
to  the  same  office  with  a  majority  larger  than  that 
given  for  any  other  candidate  on  his  ticket. 

He  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office  with  signal 
ability,  and  with  a  humane  sense  of  his  obligations 
towards  the  accused,  as  well  as  society,  novel  in  a  pub 
lic  prosecutor,  though  the  ends  of  justice  were  never 
better  served.  He  treated  the  office  as  if  it  were  a 
finality  in  his  political  career,  and  not  merely  "  a  step 
ping-stone  to  higher  things ; "  and  when  his  term  ex 
pired,  in  1861,  the  only  place  he  sought,  the  only  place 
he  would  not  have  scorned  to  take,  was  a  soldier's  place 
in  the  field,  wherever  self-sacrifice  might  be  most  useful 
to  his  country. 

He  had  fought  the  good  fight  for  Lincoln,  and  he 
had  watched  with  keen  anxiety  the  effect  upon  the 
States  threatening  to  secede.  He  thought,  on  the  9th 
of  November,  that  South  Carolina  might  go  out,  but 
that  the  others  would  draw  back.  "  But  at  all  events 
I  feel  as  if  the  time  had  come  to  test  this  question.  If 
the  threats  are  meant,  then  it  is  time  the  Union  was 
dissolved  or  the  traitors  crushed  out.  I  hope  Lincoln 
goes  m."  On  the  4th  of  January,  1861,  "  Disunion  and 


BETTER   WAR  THAN   COMPROMISE.  51 

civil  war  are  at  hand,  and  yet  I  fear  disunion  and 
war  less  than  compromise.  We  can  recover  from 

them Crittenden's   compromise  !      Windham, 

speaking  of  the  rumor  that  Bonaparte  was  about  to 
invade  England,  said,  '  The  danger  of  invasion  is  by 
no  means  equal  to  that  of  peace.  A  man  may  escape 
a  pistol,  however  near  his  head,  but  not  a  dose  of  poi 
son.'  "  "  Six  States  have  seceded,"  he  adds  on  the 
27th.  "  Let  them  go  !  If  the  Union  is  now  dissolved, 
it  does  not  prove  that  the  experiment  of  popular  gov 
ernment  is  a  failure,"  he  makes  haste  to  say,  with  his 
abiding  faith  in  the  democratic  idea.  "  In  all  the  free 
States,  and  in  a  majority,  if  not  in  all  the  slaveholding 
States,  popular  government  has  been  successful.  But 
the  experiment  of  uniting  free  States  and  slaveholding 
States  in  one  nation  is  perhaps  a  failure.  Freedom 
and  slavery  can  perhaps  not  exist  side  by  side  under 
the  same  popular  government.  There  probably  is  an 
'  irrepressible  conflict '  between  freedom  and  slavery. 
It  may  as  well  be  admitted,  and  our  new  relations 
formed  with  that  as  an  admitted  fact." 

In  April  Sumter  fell,  and  Lincoln's  call  for  troops 
came,  and  with  it  came  an  end  of  all  theories,  all  spec 
ulations  beyond  the  question  of  the  hour.  At  Cincin 
nati,  as  throughout  the  whole  North,  a  wild  outburst  of 
the  instantly  embattled  public  sentiment  answered  the 
call.  "  I  shall  never  forget,"  Hayes  writes,  "  that  Sun 
day  evening,"  when  the  summons  came.  He  was  him 
self  a  leader  of  the  popular  enthusiasm,  and  wrote  the 
resolutions  of  the  largest  of  the  public  meetings  held 


52  MEMORABLE   WORDS. 

to  welcome  the  summons.     "  Let  what  evils  may  follow, 
I  shall  not  soon  cease  to  rejoice  over  this  event." 

Then  on  the  15th  of  May,  in  words  that  seem  still  to 
burn  with  the  sublime  impulses  of  that  hour,  he  records 
the  purpose  from  which  he  never  faltered  throughout  the 
four  years  of  war  that  followed  :  **  Judge  Matthews  l  and 
I  have  agreed  to  go  into  the  service  for  the  war  —  if 
possible,  into  the  same  regiment.  I  spoke  my  feelings 
to  him,  which  he  said  were  his  own,  that  this  was  a  just 
and  necessary  war,  and  that  it  demanded  the  whole  power 
of  the  country;  THAT  I  WOULD  PREFER  TO  GO  INTO 

IT    IF    I    KNEW    I  WAS    TO    BE    KILLED    IN  THE    COURSE 

OF   IT,  rather  than  to  live  through  and  after  it  without 
taking  any  part  in  it" 

1  Afterwards  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  Union  army,  and  now 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Ohio  bar.  He  has  been  renomiiiated  for 
Congress  bj'  the  Republicans  of  Hayes's  former  district. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    EDUCATION    OF    A    SOLDIER. 

HAYES  was  in  his  thirty-ninth  year  when  the  war 
began.  His  character,  rounded  by  time  and  experi 
ence,  embodied  the  same  traits  and  qualities  which  had 
marked  it  from  the  years  when  he  first  began  to  think 
and  act  for  himself.  Intellectually  of  solid  rather  than 
rapid  growth,  he  was  morally  in  his  ripened  manhood 
what  he  had  always  been,  neither  more  nor  less  than 
just,  honest,  and  sincere,  a  man  at  once  circumspect  and 
decided,  self-respectfully  modest,  cautious,  and  brave, 
careful  as  he  was  hopeful,  and  sustained  in  whatever 
emergency  by  the  indomitable  good  spirits  with  which 
he  was  born.  His  wide  acquaintance  with  men  had 
given  him  keener  and  deeper  insight  into  himself,  with 
out  changing  at  all  the  methods  or  the  motives  of  his 
action.  His  conscience  was,  as  it  had  always  been, 
more  alert  against  what  he  conceived  his  own  short 
comings  than  those  of  other  men,  though  he  never 
failed  to  judge  others  accurately  and  fairly.  He  had 
worked  deliberately,  with  brain  as  well  as  heart,  into 
sympathy  with  the  antislavery  movement,  and  had 
taken  his  final  stand  upon  the  ground  that  slavery  must 
not  become  the  national  principle.  When  he  saw  the 


54  OFFERED  A   COLONELCY   BY   LINCOLN. 

defeated  partisans  of  the  system  prepared  to  revenge 
themselves  by  the  destruction  of  the  nation  which  they 
could  not  rule,  the  logic  of  his  whole  life  permitted 
him  but  one  conclusion.  War  he  abhorred,  but  there 
were  worse  things  than  war  ;  and  when  once  he  knew 
that  he  would  rather  be  killed  in  the  course  of  the  war 
that  was  coming  —  that  was  come  —  than  not  go  into 
it,  there  remained  but  a  single  question  —  how  best  to 
fight  in  it.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  to  fight.  There 
were  many  semi-civil  offices,  honorable  and  necessary  to 
the  conduct  of  the  war,  which  he  could  Jiave  performed 
with  credit  to  himself  and  advantage  to  the  country, 
but  it  was  not  his  idea  of  duty  to  accept  any  of  these. 
With  him  war  meant  service  in  the  field,  danger,  death, 
if  need  be :  the  same  chances  that  the  simple  country 
lads,  springing  to  arms  all  over  the  country  by  tens  of 
thousands,  accepted,  invited,  in  a  rapture  of  patriotism 
that  now  seems  incredible. 

There  came  to  him  in  this  mood  a  colonel's  commis 
sion  from  President  Lincoln,  probably  at  the  sugges 
tion  of  Secretary  Chase,  who  knew  the  mettle  of  the 
man  ;  and  the  quick  sense  of  responsibility  in  him  to 
which  the  honor  appealed  gave  him  sudden  pause. 

Doubtless  no  one  knew  better  than  he  his  inherent 
qualities  of  leadership,  but  no  one  knew  better  his 
ignorance  of  war.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  who  has 
communicated  these  facts,  hitherto  unpublished,  to  the 
writer,  he  states  that  he  has  considered  the  case,  ques 
tioned  his  present  fitness,  and  decided  to  decline  the 
commission  :  he  could  not  take  in  his  hands,  unused  to 


MAJOR  OF  THE   TWENTY-THIRD   OHIO.  55 

the  tremendous  responsibility  involved,  the  lives  of  a 
thousand  men,  whom  his  inexperience  might  uselessly 
sacrifice  in  the  first  battle,  or  waste  through  sickness 
before  they  saw  the  enemy's  face.  He  adds,  "  I  intend, 
however,  to  enter  the  service  immediately,  but  in  some 
capacity  less  responsible.  Meanwhile,  I  am  studying 
military  tactics ;  have  bought  a  copy  of  Hardee,  and 
am  drilling  with  the  club  company,"  —  a  company 
formed  almost  entirely  of  members  of  the  Literary  Club, 
who  chose  him  their  captain. 

In  fine,  he  declined  the  colonelcy,  and  he  set  about 
the  work  of  studying  war  as  he  had  set  about 
studying  abolition  history  when  he  became  a  Repub 
lican,  as  he  had  all  his  life  studied  the  thing,  what 
ever  it  was,  he  had  to  do.  He  mastered  so  much  of 
the  science  as  his  trained  and  penetrating  mind,  aided 
by  energies  aroused  to  the  last  degree,  enabled  him 
to  achieve,  in  a  period  so  brief,  and  in  the  beginning 
of  June,  1861,  he  accepted  from  Governor  Dennison, 
of  Ohio,  the  majorship  of  the  twenty-third  Ohio  volun 
teer  infantry.  His  superior  officers  were  Colonel  W. 
S.  Rosecrans,  who  was  in  civil  life  in  Cincinnati  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Stanley 
Matthews,  that  friend  to  whom  Hayes  had  spoken  his 
feelings  about  going  into  the  army,  and  who  had  "  said 
they  were  his  own." 

Two  days  after  the  acceptance  of  his  commission, 
Hayes  was  in  camp  with  his  regiment  at  Columbus, 
and  writing  a  letter  of  excellent  content  —  content 
with  his  regiment,  content  with  the  present,  content 


56  AT    CAMP    CHASE. 

with  the  future  of  action  and  danger  before  him. 
"I  am  much  happier  in  this  business  than  I  could  be 
fretting  away  in  the  old  office  near  the  court  house. 
It  is  living." 

Within  ten  days  after  going  into  camp  with  his  reg 
iment,  Colonel  Rosecrans  was  appointed  a  brigadier- 
general,  and  took  command  of  the  Ohio  forces  in  West 
Virginia,  while  Colonel  E.  P.  Scammon,  an  old  West 
Pointer,  succeeded  him  in  command  of  the  twenty- 
third.  Hayes  could  not  have  desired  a  better  school 
than  camp  service  under  another  educated  soldier. 

No  part,  indeed,  of  his  brief  experience  in  camp  at 
Columbus  was  lost  upon  Hayes,  who  would  so  willingly 
have  gone  through  a  longer  training  for  his  new  duties. 
The  anomaly  of  his  position  in  some  things  struck 
him  as  it  must  have  struck  many  other  sincere  and 
modest  officers,  suddenly  called  from  civil  life  to  the 
strange  responsibilities  of  military  leadership  in  war. 
"  All  matters  of  discretion,  of  common  judgment,"  he 
writes  four  days  after  first  going  into  camp,  "  I  get 
along  with  easily ;  but  I  was  for  an  instant  puzzled 
when  a  captain  of  the  twenty-fourth,  of  West  Point 
('duration,  asked  me  formally,  as  I  sat  in  my  tent,  for 

his  orders,  he  being  officer  of  the  day I  men-lv 

remarked  that  I  thought  of  nothing  requiring  special 
attention ;  that  if  anything  was  wanted  out  of  the 
usual  routine  I  would  let  him  know ! " 

The  news  of  the  calamitous  defeat  at  Bull  Run  came 
with  crushing  effect  to  the  novices  at  Camp  Chase,  who 
could  hardly  have  been  less  amazed  by  the  tranquillity 


THE  COOLNESS  OF  THE  VETERANS.      57 

with  which  the  intelligence  was  received  by  those  of 
their  superiors  to  whom  war  was  business.  "  Last 
evening  Adjutant-General  B.  took  tea  with  Colonel  S, 
My  mind  was  full  of  the  great  disaster  ;  they  talked 
of  school-boy  times  at  West  Point,  gave  the  bill  of  fare 
of  different  days,  —  beef  on  Sunday,  fish  on  such  a 
day,  etc.,  —  with  anecdotes  of  Billy  Cozzens,  the  cook 
and  steward,  never  once  alluding  to  the  events  just  an 
nounced,  of  which  we  were  all  full  ; "  and  we  may  be 
sure  that  Major  Hayes  was  not  the  man  to  mention 
them,  with  his  humorous  sense  of  the  not  altogether 
amusing  contrast.  The  universal,  kind-hearted  unfa- 
miliarity  with  all  things  military  in  those  first  warlike 
days  found  infinitely  various  expression,  and  one  phase 
of  it  was  hardly  more  absurd  than  another :  "  The 
mother  of  one  of  our  officers,  at  Camp  Chase,  seeing  a 
boy  walking  upon  his  sentinel's  beat,  took  pity  on  him, 
sent  him  out  a  glass  of  wine  and  a  piece  of  cake,  with 
a  stool  to  sit  on  while  he  ate  and  drank.  She  told  him 
not  to  keep  walking  so,  to  sit  down  and  rest ;  she 
also  advised  him  to  resign  !  " 

But  the  time  for  preparation  was  cut  very  short, 
and  on  the  25th  of  July,  some  six  weeks  after  going 
into  camp,  the  regiment,  with  all  its  imperfections  on 
its  head,  was  ordered  to  West  Virginia  to  help  drive  out 
the  rebel  General  Floyd.  Raw  as  were  the  officers  and 
men  of  the  twenty-third,  they  were  probably  marvels  of 
discipline  and  experience  in  the  eyes  of  the  loyal  West 
Virginians,  to  whose  succor  they  had  come.  "  Every 
where,  in  the  cornfields  and  hayfields,"  runs  one  of  the 


58          THE   TWENTY-THIRD   IN   WEST   VIRGINIA. 

major's  letters  home,  "  in  the  houses,  in  the  roads,  on 
the  hills,  wherever  a  human  being  met  us,  we  saw  such 
honest,  spontaneous  demonstrations  of  joy  as  we  never 
beheld  elsewhere.  Old  men  and  women,  boys  and  chil 
dren,  —  some  fervently  prayed  for  us,  some  laughed, 
•and  some  cried;  all  did  something  that  told  the  story. 
The  secret  of  it  is,  the  defeat  at  Washington  and  the 
departure  of  some  thousands  of  three  months'  men  of 
Ohio  and  Indiana  had  led  them  to  fear  that  they  were 
to  be  left  to  the  rebels  of  Eastern  Virginia  :  we  were 
the  first  three  years'  men  filling  the  places  of  those  who 

had  left Our  men  enjoyed  it  beyond  measure. 

Many "  —  from  the  long  Ohio  levels  bordering  and 
stretching  back  from  the  lake  — "  had  never  seen  a 
mountain  ;  none  had  ever  seen  such  a  reception.  They 
stood  on  top  of  the  cars,  and  danced  and  shouted  with 
delight."  War  had  begun  like  a  holiday  for  the  brave 
poor  fellows  who  were  to  leave  their  bones  on  many 
a  battle-field  and  in  the  graves  of  hospital  grounds  and 
prison-pens  ;  but  the  cool-headed,  steady-hearted  leader 
whose  fame  was  to  be  forever  identified  with  theirs 
never  lost  sight,  for  a  moment,  of  the  wrinkled  front 
beneath  the  smiling  mask.  He  shared,  with  a  subtler 
sense,  their  wild  rapture  in  the  beauty  of  the  land ; 
letters  and  journals  glow  with  his  joy  in  the  magnifi 
cent  scenery,  the  delicious  weather  ;  and  he  likes  the 
life  in  that  first  camp  at  Weston  immensely.  "  The 
effect  is  curious  of  this  fine  mountain  air  ;  everybody 
complains  of  heat,  but  everybody  is  in  a  laughing  hu 
mor  ; "  "  the  soldiers  fare  very  well  here,  and  stand  in 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  IN  WEST   VIRGINIA.        59 

little  need  of  sympathy,  but  when  I  have  an  opportu 
nity  to  smooth  matters  for  them,  I  try  to  do  it,  always 
remembering  how  you "  —  the  reader  will  know  to 
whom  this  must  have  been  addressed — "  would  wish 
it  done."  There  is  little  or  no  sickness  in  camp,  the 
men  are  gay  and  full  of  high  'hopes ;  but  the  major 
is  not  so  gay  for  them  as  he  feigns,  and  in  a  few  days 
he  has  to  write  home  of  the  first  blood  they  have  shed, 
—  in  a  fight  with  guerrillas,  who  infest  the  beautiful 
hills,  and  "  rob  and  murder  the  Union  men "  in  the 
charming  valleys.  "Nevertheless,  these  marchings  and 
campings  in  the  hills  of  Western  Virginia  will  always 
be  among  the  pleasantest  things  I  can  remember.  I 
know  we  are  in  frequent  perils,  that  we  may  never 
return,  and  all  that,  but  the  feeling  that  I  am  where  I 
ought  to  be  is  a  full  compensation  for  all  that  is  sin 
ister,  leaving  me  free  to  enjoy  as  if  on  a  pleasure 
tour."  In  the  mean  time  he  is  interested,  as  usual,  by 
the  character  about  him,  in  the  officers  and  men,  and 
in  the  local  life :  in  a  settlement  of  Yankees,  who  had 
come  to  Weston  forty  years  before,  and  had  kept 
intact  the  thrift,  morality,  and  loyalty  of  their  native 
Massachusetts ;  in  the  admirable  stuff  among  the  native 
Union  men  ;  in  the  simple-heartedness  and  good  nat 
ure  among  the  better  class  of  the  Floyd  soldiers  taken 
prisoners,  u  friendly,  civil  fellows,  whom  it  seems  so 
absurd  to  be  fighting ; "  in  the  cowardice,  cunning,  and 
laziness  of  the  baser  sort  of  rebels,  whose  "  highest  am 
bition  is  to  shoot  a  Yankee  from  some  place  of  safety." 
The  little  army  of  Western  Virginia  had  on  the 


60          FLOYD   ATTACKED    AT    CARXIFEX    FERRY. 

1st  of  September,  after  a  succession  of  slight  brushes 
with  the  enemy,  marched  upon  Carnifex  Ferry,  where 
Floyd's  force  was  strongly  posted,1  and  on  the  evening 
of  the  10th  attacked  him.  The  same  night  Floyd 
abandoned  his  post  and  fled  with  all  his  army  across 
Gauley  River,  sharply  pursued,  in  spite  of  heavy  rains 
rendering  pursuit  almost  impossible,  by  the  Union 
troops,  who  took  a  large  number  of  the  rebels.  Noth 
ing  but  the  approach  of  night  saved  Floyd's  army 
from  capture,  and  his  rout  left  all  Western  Virginia 
in  the  possession  of  our  troops. 

In  this  first  affair  Major  Hayes  was  ordered,  half  an 
hour  after  the  attack  began,  to  follow  an  aid  of  Rose- 
crans,  and  form  with  four  companies  of  the  twenty-third 
the  extreme  left  of  the  attacking  force.  Pushing  on 
over  a  hill  and  through  a  cornfield  they  arrived  within 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  of  the  enemy's  work,  when  the 
aid  took  a  friendly  leave  of  them.  He  had  no  orders  to 
give  Major  Hayes  ;  Major  Hayes  was  an  officer,  and 
would  know  what  to  do  in  circumstances  and  localities 
of  which  the  aid  frankly  confessed  himself  entirely  ig 
norant.  The  situation  might  have  been  embarrassing; 
Major  Hayes  simplified  it  in  the  only  possible  way  by 
leading  his  men  forward  against  the  enemy.  They  had 
a  tough  scramble  through  the  dense  laurel  thickets  of  the 
hillside,  and  the  major  reached  the  bottom  at  the  head 

1  For  a  clear  and  succinct  history  of  the  twenty-third  Ohio,  see  Mr. 
\\liitclaw  Reid's  admirable  work  on  "Ohio  in  the  War," — a  really 
monumental  work  which  is  yet  to  be  fully  appreciated.  The  writer 
gladly  acknowledges  his  obligations  to  Mr.  Reid's  volumes  for  the  out 
line  of  the  present  sketch  of  General  Hayes's  career. 


HAYES   UNDER   FIRE   THE    FIRST    TIME.  61 

of  four  or  five  men.  As  soon -as  others  could  join  him, 
he  formed  his  little  force  and  followed  his  skirmishing 
line  in  the  enemy's  direction,  arriving  in  time,  near 
the  close  of  the  fight,  to  be  exposed  to  the  rebels'  fire. 
Some  of  the  men  were  wounded  ;  it  had  been  growing 
dark  ;  the  firing  now  ceased,  and  the  major's  com 
mand  made  its  way  back  to  the  rest  of  the  twenty-third 
through  confused  and  broken  regiments  and  companies 
straggling  about  over  the  field,  and  talking  of  the 
slaughter,  —  thirteen  killed  and  some  seventy  wounded, 
as  it  afterwards  appeared.  At  dawn  loud  shouts  pro 
claimed  the  flight  of  the  enemy  from  his  works,  and  the 
pursuit  began. 

The  victory  was  greater  than  the  battle,  and  Major 
Hayes's  part,  useful  and  difficult  as  it  was,  gave  him 
but  a  slight  foretaste  of  war.  What  was  better,  it 
enabled  him  to  test  himself  in  doing  a  duty  which  he 
had  to  discover  for  himself ;  and  holding  himself  coolly 
in  hand,  as  he  has  always  done  in  every  crisis  of  life, 
he  perceived  that  he  went  into  action  with  the  same 
sensations  that  he  commonly  experienced  on  entering 
upon  an  exciting  law  case.  With  him,  too,  war  had 
become  business.  The  affair  also  taught  our  troops  self- 
reliance,  and  showed  them  that  such  at  least  of  the 
enemy  as  were  under  Floyd  were  no  match  for  them, 
even  with  the  odds  in  the  rebels'  favor. 

The  twenty-third  went  into  camp  on  New  River, 
after  its  return  from  the  .pursuit,  and  there  lost  many 
by  sickness.  At  this  time  Major  Hayes  was  detached 
from  the  regiment,  and  ordered  to  join  General  Rose- 


62  HAYES  JUDGE   ADVOCATE. 

crans  at  his  head-quarters  as  judge-advocate.  The 
appointment  was  by  no  means  to  the  taste  of  a  man 
who  had  gone  into  the  war  to  fight.  He  submitted 
with  reluctance,  comforting  himself  with  the  hope  of 
release  after  a  few  weeks,  but  going  diligently  about 
the  duties  of  his  office,  reducing  them  to  system,  keep 
ing  a  record  of  cases,  and  studying  the  whole  business 
as  was  his  wont  with  whatever  he  took  hold  of.  Six 
weeks  later  he  was,  to  his  high  satisfaction,  relieved 
from  the  office,  in  which  he  had  in  the  mean  time  done 
most  acceptable  service,  and  allowed  to  rejoin  his  regi 
ment  in  Camp  Ewing,  on  New  River. 

Important  changes  had  recently  taken  place  in  it. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Matthews  had  been  appointed  to 
the  command  of  another  regiment,  and  Hayes  succeeded 
to  the  vacancy,  his  own  place  being  filled  by  another 
brave  soldier,  now  General  J.  M.  Comly,  who  had  re 
signed  the  lieutenant-colonelcy  of  a  regiment  in  Camp 
Chase  and  taken  the  majorship  of  the  twenty-third, 
that  he  might  get  at  once  into  active  service.  His 
fortunes  were  thereafter  closely  united  with  those  of 
Hayes,  and  when  the  latter  became  brigadier-general, 
Major  Comly  succeeded  him  in  command  of  the  twen 
ty-third,  and  was  himself  brevetted  brigadier-general 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  for  his  able  and  gallant  sol 
diership. 

The  rest  of  the  winter  was  spent  at  Camp  Ewing 
and  the  subsequent  camp  of  the  regiment  at  Fayette- 
ville,  in  duties  whose  faithful  performance  endeared 
Colonel  Hayes  to  his  men  as  much  as  his  bravery  in 


CARE   FOR   HIS   REGIMENT.  63 

battle.  He  was  very  diligent  in  drill  and  parade,  but 
he  was  as  constant  in  his  attention  to  the  comfort  of 
the  men  as  to  their  discipline.  That  humane  and  un 
selfish  heart,  to  which  all  suffering  and  helplessness 
irresistibly  appealed,  was  sensitively  alive  to  the  rights 
of  the  brave  fellows  —  who  were  in  some  sort  his  chil 
dren  —  to  everything  that  could  be  done  for  their  wel 
fare.  At  the  same  time  he  wrote  home  indignant  de 
nunciations  of  the  exaggerated  reports  of  suffering  in 
the  army.  "  I  am  satisfied  that  our  army  is  better  fed, 
better  clad,  and  better  sheltered  than  any  other  army 

in   the   world I  am   now  dressed  as  a  private, 

and  I  am  well  dressed  ;  I  live  habitually  on  soldier's 

rations,  and  I  live  well It  is  the  poor  families 

at  home,  not  the  soldiers,  who  can  justly  claim  sympa 
thy.  I  except,  of  course,  the  regiments  which  have 

bad   officers Government  is  sending  enough,  if 

colonels  would    only  do    their  part We   have 

sickness,  which  is  bad  enough,  but  it  is  due  to  causes 
inseparable  from  our  condition."  He  early  taught 
himself  to  relieve  the  needjess  ills  of  the  soldiers'  con 
dition,  and  he  was  consequently  successful  in  teaching 
them  to  bear  those  which  could  not  be  helped.  The 
only  complaint  which  escapes  him  on  his  own  account 

is  amusingly   characteristic :  "  If  J comes,  let  him 

get  an  assortment  of  late  papers,  « Harpers,'  '  Atlantics/ 
etc.,  and  keep  them  till  he  gets  to  our  camp.  We  are 
the  outermost  camp,  and  people  are  coaxed  out  of  their 
literature  before  they  get  to  us." 

Hayes  was  never  one  of  the  Union  soldiers  who  COM- 


64   SLAVERY  THE  ONLY  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNION. 

ceived  it  his  business  to  enforce  the  fugitive  slave  law 
in  favor  of  the  rebels ;  his  mind  was  clear  in  regard  to 
the  slavery  question  from  the  start.  No  contrabands  go 
back  to  their  masters  from  the  army  of  West  Virginia, 
he  is  glad  to  know ;  and  again  and  again  his  letters 
and  journals  bear  witness  to  his  conviction  that  "  the 
deadliest  enemy  the  Union  has  is  slavery,  —  in  fact,  its 
only  enemy,  —  and  that  to  strike  at  slavery  is  to  strike 
at  the  life  of  the  rebellion."  He  recurs  from  time  to 
time,  with  the  anxiety  of  a  man  used  to  watch  public 
affairs,  to  the  changing  attitude  of  the  government  in 
respect  to  the  institution,  and  hails  with  deep  satisfac 
tion,  as  a  step  towards  the  final  result,  Lincoln's  recom 
mendation  that  the  federal  aid  be  pledged  to  States 
taking  measures  for  gradual  emancipation.  But  for  the 
most  part  his  mind  is  on  the  business  in  hand,  requiring 
from  day  to  day  a  more  vigilant  devotion,  and  soon  to 
absorb  every  energy. 

Early  in  November  the  twenty-third  left  Camp  Ewing 
to  join  another  movement  against  Floyd,  returning  from 
which  they  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Fayetteville. 
Under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hayes  they 
quitted  these  quarters  on  the  17th  of  April,  and  led  the 
advance  upon  the  enemy,  who  evacuated  Princeton  be 
fore  them,  but  attacked  the  twenty-third  with  four  regi 
ments  on  the  8th,  and  forced  it  to  retire  to  East  River. 
It  fell  back  in  good  order,  and  after  great  sufferings  and 
privations,  its  supplies  having  been  cut  off,  abandoned 
Princeton,  and,  returning  to  Flat  Top  Mountain,  re 
mained  in  camp  there  till  the  13th  of  July.  On  the 


BATTLE  OF  SOUTH  MOUNTAIN.        65 

15th  of  August  it  was  ordered  from  its  next  station,  at 
Green  Meadows,  to  Camp  Piatt  on  the  Great  Kanawha, 
and  made  the  march  of  one  hundred  miles  in  three  days. 
Embarking  in  transports  for  Parkersburg,  the  regiment 
there  took  the  cars  for  Washington,  joined  McClellan's 
force  in  driving  the  Confederates  from  Frederick  City, 
reached  Middletown  on  the  1 3th  of  September,  and  took 
part  in  the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam. 

The  battle  of  South  Mountain  was  fought  on  the  day 
after  the  arrival  of  the  twenty-third  in  Middletown,  and 
three  days  before  the  battle  of  Antietam.  It  began  early 
on  a  lovely  Sunday  of  September,  with  the  advance 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hayes's  command.  McClellan's 
army  with  Burnside  in  front  was  pressing  up  the  mount 
ain  by  the  National  Road.  General  Cox's  division  of 
Ohio  men  led  General  Burnside's  corps,  and  the  twenty- 
third  formed  the  van  of  that  division.  At  seven  o'clock, 
Hayes  was%  ordered  to  take  one  of  the  mountain  paths 
and  get  round  the  right  of  the  rebels,  who  were  be 
lieved  to  be  posted  there  with  two  guns,  and  he  started 
up  the  hill  on  this  by-road,  throwing  out  one  company  as 
skirmishers  and  two  others  as  flankers.  At  nine  o'clock 
he  drove  in  a  rebel  picket ;  he  pushed  forward  and  in 
a  few  minutes  saw  the  rebels  coming  down  upon  him  in 
strong  force  from  a  hill  in  front.  These  men  were, 
as  he  afterwards  learned,  two  regiments,  the  twelfth 
South  Carolina  and  twenty-third  North  Carolina,  who 
were  thus  opposed  to  the  twelfth  and  twenty-third  Ohio. 
Hayes  hurriedly  formed  his  men  in  the  woods  and  charged 
over  rocks  and  broken  ground  and  through  under- 


66  HAYES    SEVERELY   WOUNDED. 

brush,  while  the  enemy  poured  in  a  heavy  fire  at  short 
range ;  but  he  succeeded  in  driving  them,  after  a  fierce 
engagement,  out  of  the  woods  into  an  open  field  near  the 
top  of  the  hill.  His  men  stopped  at  a  fence  in  the  border 
of  the  woods  and  opened  a  brisk  fire  on  the  enemy,  who 
took  shelter  behind  the  stone  walls  and  fences  along  the 
crest  of  the  hill,  and  returned  the  fire  of  the  Ohioans 
across  the  field.  At  this  juncture  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Hayes,  urging  his  men  to  charge  the  Carolinians  (who 
were  supported  by  a  large  rebel  force  with  artillery, 
probably  the  two  pieces  Hayes  had  been  sent  to  take), 
left  the  shelter  of  the  woods.  As  he  gave  the  com 
mand,  a  minie  ball  struck  him  with  stunning,  shattering 
force  in  the  left  arm,  above  the  elbow,  crushing  the  bone 
to  fragments  and  carrying  part  of  it  completely  away. 
He  called  to  a  soldier  near  him  to  tie  his  handkerchief 
above  the  wound,  fearing  an  artery  might  have  been 
severed.  Then,  turning  suddenly  faint,  he  fell.  His 
men  pressed  beyond  him,  and  when  he  regained  con 
sciousness  he  found  himself  some  twenty  feet  in  their 
rear,  under  a  heavy  fire,  with  the  balls  pelting  the  earth 
all  about  him.  He  listened  anxiously,  as  he  lay  there, 
for  the  approach  of  reinforcements,  and  directed  the 
movements  of  his  men.  Once,  seeing  what  appeared  to 
him  a  false  movement  on  their  part,  he  struggled  to 
his  feet  and  began  to  countermand  it,  when  he  was 
again  overcome  by  weakness  and  sank  down,  where  he 
remained  for  twenty  minutes  exposed  to  the  enemy's 
fire,  while  the  wounded  men  staggered  past  him  or 
were  carried  to  the  rear.  His  men  were  gradually 


RESCUE   OF   THE   WOUNDED   COLONEL.  67 

forced  back  to  cover,  and  he  was  left  lying  between 
them  and  the  rebels.  He  thought  that  they  were  re 
treating,  and  called  out,  "  Hallo,  twenty-third  men  !  are 
you  going  to  leave  your  colonel  here  for  the  enemy  ?  " 
Half  a  dozen  good  fellows  sprang  from  the  woods,  and 
the  enemy,  who  had  suspended  their  fire  for  a  moment, 
opened  on  them,  and  the  battle  began  to  rage  again  as 
hotly  as  ever.  Hayes  ordered  the  men  back,  and  then 
Lieutenant  Jackson  came  to  him  and  insisted  on  taking 
him  out  of  range  of  the  fire.  The  command  now  fell 
to  Major  Comly,  who  led  the  regiment  with  his  accus 
tomed  bravery  through  the  rest  of  the  day.  Reenforce- 
ments  coming  up  at  last,  the  twenty-third  again  charged 
the  enemy  and  drove  them  from  the  hill  into  the  woods 
beyond,,  killing  large  numbers  with  the  bayonet.  The 
regiment  then  rejoined  its  division,  making  three  suc 
cessful  bayonet  charges  during  the  fight,  and  losing 
nearly  two  hundred  men.  "The  colors  of  the  regi 
ment  were  riddled,"  says  Mr.  Reid,  "  and  the  blue  field 
almost  completely  carried  away  by  shells  and  bullets." 

Lieutenant  Jackson  led  his  colonel  beyond  the 
enemy's  fire,  and  Hayes  then  growing  faint  from  his 
wound,  the  lieutenant  left  him  behind  a  log,  with  a  can 
teen  of  water,  and  in  company  with  many  wounded  of 
both  sides.  The  man  nearest  him  was  a  Confederate, 
and  the  two  fell  into  talli  of  that  friendliness  which 
seems  to  have  always  been  the  natural  condition  of 
the  men  of  both  armies  when  they  were  not  actually 
killing  each  other.  "  What  regiment  do  you  belong  to, 
and  where  are  you  from  ?  "  asked  the  Northerner  ;  and 


68  '  FRIENDLY   ENEMIES. 

the  Southerner  answered  that  he  was  major  of  a  North 
Carolina  regiment.  "  "Well,  you  came  a  long  way  to 
fight  us."  "  Where  are  you  from  ? "  asked  the  major 
in  his  turn.  "  I  am  from  Ohio."  "  Well,  you  came  a 
good  ways  to  fight  MS,"  rejoined  the  major ;  and  the 
enemies  "  talked  on  in  that  pleasant,  friendly  way,  nei 
ther  of  us  at  that  time  suffering  much."  The  South 
erner  told  the  Northerner  that  he  had  been  a  Union 
man,  and  saw  no  reason  for  secession,  but  went  out  with 
his  section. 

The  firing  again  died  away ;  Lieutenant  Jackson  re 
turned  and  led  his  colonel  to  the  regimental  surgeon, 
who  dressed  his  wound.  Hayes  then  walked  half  a 
mile  to  a  point  where  he  found  an  ambulance,  and 
was  carried  to  Middletown.  Here  he  remained,  restive 
and  helpless,  while  the  army  marched  by  under  the 
windows  of  the  house  where  he  lay.  He  heard  them 
going  all  night  long  and  all  day  long,  the  men  sing 
ing  as  they  marched  ;  and  he  gained  what  small  ease 
he  could,  as  he  impatiently  listened  afterwards  to  the 
sounds  of  the  battle  of  Antietam,  by  hiring  two  boys 
to  stand  at  the  window  and  describe  the  men  who  rode 
by  from  the  field,  striving  to  guess  from  this  report  of 
their  looks  how  the  battle  was  going. 

A  curious  circumstance  in  regard  to  Hayes  at  the 
battle  of  South  Mountain  is  the  fact  that  at  the  time 
he  received  his  wound  he  was  not  in  the  pay  or  service 
of  the  United  States.  He  had  been  appointed  colonel 
of  the  seventy-ninth  Ohio,  and  had  been  mustered  out 
as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  twenty-third  without  his 


HAYES   PROMOTED   TO   BE   COLONEL.  69 

knowledge.  His  wound  prevented  his  taking  com 
mand  of  his  new  regiment,  and  on  the  30th  of  Novem 
ber  he  rejoined,  as  colonel,  the  twenty-third,  Colonel 
Scammon  having  been  appointed  a  brigadier-general, 
and  Major  Comly  having  received  the  recognition  his 
conduct  merited,  in  promotion  to  the  lieutenant-colo 
nelcy. 

During  his  convalescence  in  Ohio,  Colonel  Hayes, 
resisting  the  friends  who  thought  he  had  "  had  his 
share  "  and  counseled  him  to  remain  out  of  the  service, 
gladly  returned  to  the  command  of  his  old  regiment. 
Of  his  affectionate  pride  in  it  his  letters  and  journals 
give  constant  proof,  and  the  men  returned  his  regard 
with  equal  devotion. 

While  yet  in  West  Virginia,  the  regiment  was  or 
dered  against  a  rebel  force  near  Princeton,  and,  the 
1st  of  May,  seventy -five  of  them  were  attacked  by  three 
hundred  cavalry  and  guerrillas,  and  lost  a  third  of  their 
number  in  killed  and  wounded ;  but  they  beat  the 
enemy,  who  fled,  leaving  his  wounded  with  them.  "  As 
I  rode  up  they  saluted  with  a  present  arms  ;  several 
were  bloody  with  wounds  as  they  stood  in  their  places  ; 
one  boy  limped  to  his  post  who  had  been  hit  three 
times.  As  I  looked  at  the  glow  of  pride  on  their  faces 
my  heart  choked  me  ;  I  could  n't  speak  ;  but  a  boy  said, 
'  All  right,  colonel ;  we  know  what  you  mean  !  ' 

Their  colonel  was  always  writing  home  praises  of 
their  prowess  or  their  discipline,  and  his  letters  abound 
in  their  jokes.  They  were  humorists  in  their  way,  as 
all  unspoiled  Americans  are,  and  in  their  march  through 


70  HIS  LOVE   FOR  HIS   MEN. 

a  friendly  section  of  Maryland,  where  the  admiring 
women,  children,  and  negroes  called  out  from  every 
house  to  know  what  troops  they  were,  their  drollery 
bubbled  out  in  such  answers  as  "  The  twenty-third 
Utah,"  "The  twenty-third  Bushwhackers,"  "Drafted 
Men,"  "Home  Guards,"  "Peace  Men,"  "The  Lost 
Tribes,"  and  so  forth.  It  was  men  of  the  Kanawha 
division  who,  being  at  home  on  furlough,  took  from  its 
bearer  and  trampled  under  foot  a  transparency  in  a 
Democratic  procession  —  a  brutal  and  shameless  cari 
cature  of  their  leader  dodging  the  bullets  they  had  seen 
him  brave ;  and  Hayes  had  more  than  once  been  as  quick 
in  the  defense  of  their  honor.  One  evening  a  corps 
commander  dashed  furiously  into  their  camp,  where  he 
found  them  taking  straw  from  a  stack  for  bedding,  and, 
assailing  them  in  the  atrocious  language  which  even  a 
brave  and  skillful  general  could  suffer  himself  to  use  to 
wards  men  as  good  as  he,  demanded  to  see  their  colo 
nel.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hayes  presented  himself  and 
respectfully  but  firmly  defended  them,  saying  that  they 
had  always  taken  forage  and  other  necessaries,  and  that 
in  a  friendly  country  they  were  ready  to  pay  for  them. 
Then  after  some  further  angry  words  from  the  general 
he  added,  "  I  trust  our  generals  will  exhibit  the  same 
energy  in  dealing  with  their  foes  that  they  do  in  the 
treatment  of  their  friends."  As  the  general  rode  away 
the  men  cheered  their  colonel,  —  a  little  rueful,  per 
haps,  about  his  sarcasm,  but  glad  to  have  defended  the 
brave  fellows  unjustly  assailed  and  forbidden  to  speak 
for  themsehrs. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CAMP  ON  THE  KANAWHA  AND  THE  MORGAN  RAID. 

EARLY  in  October  of  1862,  the  twenty-third  was 
ordered  with  the  rest  of  the  Kanawha  division  to  re 
turn  to  West  Virginia,  and  went  into  winter  quarters 
near  the  falls  of  the  Great  Kanawha.  Here,  on  the 
30th  of  November,  a  party  of  officers  welcomed  back 
their  colonel,  and  they  had  a  jovial  meeting,  "  fighting 
over  again  the  battle  of  South  Mountain,  with  many 
anecdotes,  much  laughter  and  enjoyment." 

The  colonel  had  come  home  to  them  reestablished 
in  health  from  the  general  effect  of  his  wound,1  but  his 
arm  was  still  very  weak,  and  easily  hurt ;  he  could  not 
raise  his  hand  above  his  head.  With  any  severe  exer 
tion,  the  whole  limb  was  very  painful.  Under  the  cir 
cumstances,  Lieutenant- Colonel  Comly  and  Major  Mcll- 
rath  relieved  him  of  drill  duty,  and  he  interested  himself 
chiefly  in  the  superintendence  of  the  sanitary  arrange 
ments  of  the  camp  —  matters  which  he  always  looked 
to  personally  if  possible.  The  men  had  built  them- 

1  He  had  had  the  best  of  nursing  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Jacob  Rudy 
at  Middletown,  before  his  wife  could  join  him,  and  her  coming  only 
intensified  the  care  he  received.  Three  weeks  after  he  was  shot  he 
walked  over  the  battle-field  with  Mrs.  Hayes  on  his  fortieth  birth 
day. 


72  MRS.  HAYES  IN   CAMP. 

selves  cabins  of  planks  and  logs,  and  prepared  to  pass 
the  winter  in  as  much  comfort  as  can  fall  to  the  sol 
dier's  lot.  They  took  peculiar  pride  in  fitting  up  the 
colonel's  quarters,  and  when,  late  in  January,  his  wife 
came  with  her  three  boys  to  visit  him,  it  was  matter  of 
rejoicing  for  the  whole  regiment.  Other  ladies  joined 
their  husbands  in  camp,  and  the  winter  passed  gayly 
in  such  amusements  as  the  life  afforded :  rides,  fishing, 
boating,  and  pleasure  excursions  of  every  sort.  The 
little  ones  became  the  children  of  the  regiment  so  far  as 
the  soldier's  love  could  adopt  them ;  with  the  colonel's 
wife  and  boys  in  camp  each  good  fellow  was  nearer  the 
wife  and  boys  so  far  away  at  home. 

But  these  gentle  women  could  not  suffer  their  so 
journ  in  camp  to  be  merely  a  pleasure  to  themselves, 
and  Mrs.  Hayes,  who  remained  longest,  had  the  privilege 
of  doing  the  most  kindness  to  the  men  so  proud  of  her 
presence.  "  His  wife  is  a  noble  woman "  (we  are 
letting  one  of  the  soldiers  speak  for  himself);  "there 
was  not  a  morning  that  she  omitted  going  through 
the  hospital,  and  she  did  everything  she  could  for  the 
sick  and  wounded."  "  Into  our  midst,"  writes  another, 
"  sitting  at  our  camp  fires,  putting  new  heart  into 
many  a  homesick  boy,  banishing  the  fever  from  many 
a  bronzed  cheek  with  her  gentle  touch,  came  this  fair 
lady  and  her  boys.  "We  named  our  camp,  in  her  honor, 
Camp  Lucy  Hayes,  and  not  a  man  in  all  those  thou 
sands,  but  would  have  risked  his  life  for  her." 

Mrs.  Hayes's  visit  ended  in  March.  A  second  visit 
which  she  paid  her  husband  in  June,  when  his  regiment 


MORGAN'S  RAID.  73 

was  encamped  at  Charlestown,  Virginia,  was  saddened  by 
the  death  of  their  youngest  boy  whom  she  had  brought 
with  her.  From  this  sorrow  Colonel  Hayes  was  shortly 
summoned  to  take  part  in  the  pursuit  and  capture  of 
John  Morgan,  after  his  famous  raid  through  Ohio. 

On  the  2d  of  July  Morgan  crossed  the  Cumberland  at 
Burkesville  with  twenty-four  hundred  and  sixty  men, 
and  struck  through  the  State  of  Kentucky  to  the  Ohio 
River.  In  five  days  he  reached  the  river,  sixty  miles 
below  Louisville,  seized  two  steamers  in  which  he  set 
his  men  across,  and  then  resumed  his  rapid  ride,  push 
ing  through  Southern  Indiana  towards  Cincinnati.  He 
rode  fifty  and  sixty  miles  a  day,  leaving  bridges  burnt, 
telegraph  wires  cut,  and  general  consternation  behind 
him.  By  the  12th  it  was  known  that  he  was  aiming  at 
Cincinnati,  where  navigation  and  business  were  stopped 
and  martial  law  proclaimed.  The  governor  called  out 
the  militia  of  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  but  Morgan 
came  so  swiftly  and  so  secretly  that,  when  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  14th  he  passed  through  the  suburbs  of  the 
city,  he  met  not  so  much  as  a  hostile  picket,  and  by 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  had  reached  a  point 
twenty-eight  miles  east  of  Cincinnati,  having  ridden 
ninety -eight  miles  in  thirty-five  hours.  Desertions  had 
reduced  his  numbers  to  two  thousand,  and  any  mili 
tary  object  which  the  expedition  might  have  had  was 
defeated  by  the  insubordination  of  his  followers,  who 
abandoned  themselves  to  plundering.  But  the  people 
made  all  haste  to  hide  their  horses,  cattle,  and  silver, 
and  Morgan's  men  seem  to  have  been  chiefly  terrible  to 


74     HAYES  MEETS  MORGAN  AT  POMEROY. 

shops  abounding  in  calicoes.  With  the  best  disposi 
tion  in  the  world  to  steal  everything,  they  had  no  time 
for  research.  Fifty  thousand  militia  had  taken  the 
field  against  them,  but  having  fully  supplied  themselves 
with  dress  goods  the  raiders  dashed  on,  and  outrode  or 
outgeneraled  the  militia,  and  reached  the  Ohio  River  at 
Pomeroy  on  the  19th,  having  met  with  very  little  fight 
ing  in  their  course,  and  only  such  molestation  as  inde 
pendent  sharp-shooters  or  small  bodies  of  militia  could 
offer  them  in  passing.  But  by  this  time  a  body  of  the 
regular  cavalry,  under  Judah,  and  a  division  of  the  mili 
tia  were  close  upon  him,  and  at  Pomeroy  he  first  en 
countered  a  disciplined  force. 

On  the  16th  of  July,  Colonel  Hayes  heard  of  Mor 
gan's  presence  in  Ohio  and  prepared  to  head  him  off. 
He  ordered  the  steamboats  lying  at  Charleston  to  be 
sent  on  to  Luke  Creek  on  the  Kanawha,  the  highest 
point  to  which  boats  go  in  that  river,  and  prevailed  on 
his  commanding  officer  to  allow  him  to  take  men  for 
his  enterprise.  He  chose  two  regiments  and  a  section  of 
artillery,  and  embarking  his  force,  reached  Gallipolis, 
Ohio,  on  the  18th.  On  the  19th,  Sunday,  he  had  pushed 
on  to  Pomeroy,  where  he  found  the  militia  in  position, 
waiting  for  Morgan,  who  came  about  noon  from  Buffing- 
ton  Island.  Hayes's  force  went  out  to  meet  him,  and 
after  a  slight  skirmish  Morgan  fled,  pursued  by  the 
twenty-third.  The  next  morning  at  daylight  he  was 
attacked  by  Judah's  cavalry  and  the  gunboats,  together 
with  the  force  under  Hayes,  and  after  a  brief  engage 
ment  entirely  routed.  More  than  half  his  command 


HONOR  TO  WHOM  HONOR.  75 

was  captured,  and,  pursued  and  attacked  in  all  his 
doublings  and  turnings,  he  shortly  afterwards  surren 
dered  with  the  remnant  of  his  men,  and  was  sent  to  the 
Ohio  penitentiary. 

Colonel  Hayes's  letters  describe  his  share  in  Mor 
gan's  discomfiture  as  "  the  liveliest  and  jolliest  little 
campaign  we  ever  had,"  —  "a  jolly  time."  "  The 
cavalry,  gunboats,  militia,  and  our  infantry,  each  claim 
the  victory  as  their  peculiar  property.  The  truth  is, 
all  were  essential  parties  to  the  success."  This  is  the 
verdict  of  a  just  man  who  could  always  afford  to  be 
generous,  and  we  can  easily  render  full  credit  to  the 
other  forces  engaged  in  Morgan's  defeat  (he  was  finally 
run  down  by  a  body  of  Michigan  cavalry),  while  recog 
nizing  the  military  insight  and  the  personal  vigor  and 
decision  with  which  Hayes  planned  his  share  of  the 
movement  against  Morgan,  and  was  enabled  first  of  all 
to  strike  him. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

CLOYD    MOUNTAIN     AND    WINCHESTER. 

THE  twenty-third  returned,  with  the  rest  of  Hayes's 
command,  to  Charleston,  where  it  lay  in  camp  till 
April  29,  1864.  The  interval  was  a  season  of  prepara 
tion  and  expectation  for  various  services ;  and  in  the 
mean  time  Colonel  Hayes  was  more  than  once  called 
upon  to  consider  the  subject  of  promotion  for  himself, 
which  could  have  been  easily  secured  if  he  had  been 
more  ambitious  to  advance  his  own  interests  than  to  do 
his  duty  in  the  station  where  he  found  himself.  His 
feeling  seems  to  have  been  that  he  would  "  rather  be 
one  of  the  good  colonels  than  one  of  the  poor  generals." 
He  knew  very  well  that  the  colonel  of  a  regiment  had 
one  of  the  most  agreeable  positions  in  the  service,  and 
one  of  the  most  useful,  and  he  liked  a  good  colonel's 
ability  to  make  a  good  regiment  Only  two  things 
made  him  anxious  :  that  he  might  have  a  stupid  briga 
dier  put  over  him,  or  that  through  losses  his  regiment 
might  disappear  or  be  consolidated  with  others  and  that 
thus  he  might  lose  his  colonelcy.  But  he  was  not  very 
anxious.  He  did  not  seek  promotion,  and  as  usual  pro 
motion  was  seeking  him. 

When   the   twenty-third  finally  moved  in  April,  it 


RAID   UPON   A  RAILROAD.  77 

was  to  join  the  forces  under  General  Crook  in  a  raid 
on  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  Railroad.  "  This  ex 
pedition,"  says  the  writer  in  "  Ohio  in  the  War,"  "  was 
something  worthy  of  their  mettle.  Their  long  inac 
tion  had  not  hardened  their  sinews  or  made  them 
impervious  to  fatigue.  But,  as  was  their  custom,  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  twenty-third  entered  into  the  expe 
dition  with  cheerfulness  and  a  determination  if  possible 
to  make  it  signally  successful.  Without  detailing  their 
daily  marches,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  regiment 
toiled  on  over  the  rugged  mountains,  up  ravines  and 
through  the  dense  woods,  meeting  with  snows  and  rain 
in  sufficient  volume  to  appal  the  stoutest  hearts ;  but 
they  toiled  patiently,  occasionally  brushing  the  enemy 
out  of  their  way  until,  on  the  9th  of  May,  1864,  the 
Battle  of  Cloyd  Mountain  was  fought." 

In  this  affair  Colonel  Hayes  commanded  a  brigade, 
including  of  course  his  own  regiment ;  the  other  regi 
ments  and  parts  of  regiments  were  mainly  Ohio  troops, 
used  to  service  under  him,  and  eager  as  the  twenty- 
third  for  the  fight.  Apparently  the  great  object  of  the 
expedition  was  to  destroy  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee 
Railroad  bridge  on  New  River,  which  would  cut  the 
great  line  of  communications  between  Richmond  and  the 
Southwest ;  and  General  Crook,  whom  the  Sioux  now 
call  the  Gray  Fox,  brought  his  peculiar  shrewdness  to 
the  undertaking.  As  he  marched  up  the  Kanawha  he 
sent  his  music  with  one  regiment  towards  Leesburg  in 
the  direction  of  Richmond,  while  he  made  his  way  in 
an  entirely  different  direction  toward  the  New  River 


78    THE  ENEMY'S  POSITION  AT  CLOYD  MOUNTAIN. 

bridge,  ordering  the  bands  thus  detached  to  play  as  if 
the  whole  army  were  with  them.  The  first  feat  of  the 
expedition  was  the  bloodless  capture  of  Fort  Brecken- 
ridge,  out  of  which  the  enemy  fled  at  the  approach  of 
Crook's  force.  On  the  parapet  of  this  fort  the  rebels 
had  handsomely  carved  the  words  Fort  Breckenridge, 
for  which  the  Ohio  men  immediately  substituted  Fort 
Crook.  When  too  late,  the  enemy  found  out  their  mis 
take  in  abandoning  the  fort  and  hurried  back,  and 
gathered  finally  with  a  considerable  force  under  General 
Jenkins,  formerly  a  Democratic  member  of  Congress. 
Jenkins  placed  his  army  across  the  track  of  Crook's 
men  fifty  miles  southward,  where  they  had  to  traverse 
a  high  mountain  ridge.  At  this  point  there  was  a  good 
road,  a  creek,  and  a  broad,  beautiful  meadow  stretching 
before  it  The  ridge  was  called  Cloyd  Mountain,  and 
here  the  enemy  intrenched  themselves.  Crook's  men 
arrived  at  about  eleven  o'clock  on  the  9th,  and  as  soon 
as  they  came  within  cannon  shot  the  enemy  opened  fire 
upon  them,  and  they  formed  in  the  woods  on  either  side 
of  the  road.  It  was  plain  that  Jenkins  was  very 
strongly  fortified,  and  that  his  position  could  not  be 
carried  without  severe  fighting.  An  attack  was  made 
and  repulsed,  when  General  Crook  came  to  Colonel 
1  laves  and  ordered  him  with  his  brigade  and  the  brig 
ade  on  its  right  to  cross  the  meadow  and  charge  up  the 
hill  upon  the  batteries,  adding  that  he  would  himself 
accompany  him.  The  two  brigades  formed  in  the  bor 
ders  of  the  woods  and  marched  out  in  perfect  line. 
They  were  fresh  from  camp,  where  they  had  been 


A   GALLANT   CHARGE.  „  79 

thoroughly  drilled  and  could  march  well.  The  enemy's 
fire  opened  heavily,  but  not  a  great  number  of  men 
fell.  The  rest  quickened  their  pace,  keeping  their  line 
good  until  they  got  to  the  edge  of  the  woods.  They 
could  not  yet  see  the  fortification,  which  was  on  a 
woody  hill,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  was  the  creek,  not 
very  wide  or  deep,  which  had  remained  equally  unseen. 
They  dashed  through  the  creek,  the  bed  of  which  was 
some  four  feet  below  the  level  of  the  meadow,  and 
started  up  the  hill  at  a  point  so  steep  that  the  curva 
ture  of  the  ground  protected  them  from  the  enemy's 
fire.  Here  they  stopped  to  take  breath  and  shake  the 
water  out  of  their  boots,  and  then  they  charged  up  the 
hill  again.  As  they  passed  the  protecting  curve,  they 
faced  a  murderous  fire.  Men  and  officers  fell  in  aw 
ful  slaughter  on  all  sides.  The  whole  line  seemed  to 
go  down,  but  the  men  who  were  not  hit  did  not  stop. 
There  was  no  straggling  ;  the  men  responded  cheer 
fully  to  the  encouragement  of  their  officers,  and  were 
soon  at  the  fort.  It  was  an  earthwork  hastily  thrown 
up  and  strengthened  with  fence-rails  thrust  endwise 
into  it  and  through  it,  forming  an  embankment  ex 
tremely  difficult  to  surmount,  and  held  by  the  enemy 
in  perfect  confidence.  But  Hayes's  men  scrambled 
over  at  once,  the  first  being  brave  Private  Kosht,  a  boy 
of  eighteen,  a  new  recruit,  who  sprang  from  the  line 
with  a  shout,  and  hung  his  hat  on  the  muzzle  of  a  can 
non.  The  fight  in  the  fort  lasted  only  ten  minutes, 
but  it  was  desperate  while  it  lasted,  a  wild  hand-to-hand 
combat,  which  ended  by  the  Ohioans  beating  the  rebels 


80          CHARACTERISTIC    COMMENTS   BY   HAYES. 

out  and  taking  prisoners  all  who  could  not  run  away. 
Then  they  pushed  swiftly  after  the  fugitives  to  keep 
them  from  re-forming,  which  they  attempted  at  a 
second  ridge  of  the  mountain.  The  rebels  yielded  to 
the  second  charge  here  made  upon  them,  but  formed 
again,  reenforced  by  a  body  of  the  men  who  had  been 
raiding  under  Morgan,  and  had  lived  to  fight  another 
day  by  taking  care  of  themselves  in  time.  They  were 
promptly  broken  to  pieces  by  the  third  terrific  charge, 
and  the  fight  was  over.  Our  men  hurried  on  eight  miles 
further  to  Dublin  Depot,  on  the  railroad  line,  where 
they  burned  the  bridge  aimed  at,  and  destroyed  the 
road,  rails,  ties,  and  bed,  for  several  miles,  so  that  the 
rebels  were  unable  to  use  the  line  for  six  weeks. 

In  a  letter  written  home  ten  days  later,  Colonel 
Hayes  says:  ''This  is  the  most  completely  successful 
and  by  all  odds  the  pleasantest  campaign  I  have  ever  had. 
Now  it  is  over,"  he  adds,  —  he  was  not  only  a  bayo 
net  that  thought,  but  a  bayonet  that  pitied,  and  he  never 
loved  war  but  as  a  means,  —  "I  hardly  know  what  I 
would  change  in  it,  except  to  restore  life  and  limb  to  the 
killed  and  wounded"  Then  a  sentence  that  follows  is 
peculiarly  like  Hayes  in  its  manly  modesty :  "  My  com 
mand  in  battles  and  on  the  march  behaved  to  my  entire 
satisfaction  ;  none  did,  none  could  have  done  better. 
We  had  a  most  conspicuous  part  in  the  battle  of  Cloyd's 
Mountain,  and  were  so  lucky ! "  Lucky,  indeed,  as 
true  and  valiant  men  are  in  whatever  they  set  their 
hands  to,  and  lucky  as  Hayes  has  always  been,  through 
being  simply  worthy  and  capable  of  everything  he  has 
undertaken  in  his  most  prosperous  career. 


CONTINUAL   FIGHTING.  81 

Crook's  army  proceeded  on  its  course  after  destroy 
ing  the  New  River  bridge,  and,  with  some  slight  en 
counters  with  the  enemy,  who  constantly  harassed  our 
men  on  their  march  over  roads  rendered  almost  impass 
able  by  the  heavy  rains,  arrived  at  Staunton  on  the  8th 
of  June,  where  Hayes's  brigade  joined  General  Hunter's 
command.  On  this  march  the  army  was  encumbered 
by  multitudes  of  contrabands,  men,  women,  and  children, 
and  suffered  from  privation  amounting  almost  to  famine. 

On  the  llth,  the  corps  arrived  before  Lexington, 
which  was  taken  after  an  artillery  and  sharp-shooter 
fight  of  three  hours.  Hayes's  brigade  had  the  advance, 
and  nearly  all  the  casualties  fell  to  him.  His  brigade 
had  now  become  as  dear  to  him  as  his  own  regiment, 
and  he  was  proud  of  it  as  one  of  the  best  in  the  army. 
On  the  14th  he  led  it  within  two  miles  of  Lynch- 
burg,  and  drove  a  body  of  the* enemy  as  many  miles 
up  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  Railroad.  The  army 
camped  for  the  night  near  Lynchburg,  and  so  near  a 
body  of  rebels,  in  the  dark,  that  the  men  of  both  sides 
took  rails  from  the  same  fence  for  their  fires. 

On  the  18th,  Crook's  command  set  out  to  cross  the 
James,  and  take  Lynchburg  in  the  rear,  when  news 
came  that  the  enemy,  heavily  reenforced,  was  about  to 
attack  Hunter's  centre.  Crook's  force  met  and  repulsed 
the  attack,  a  very  sharp  one,  and  the  same  evening  re- 
enforcements  for  the  enemy  continuing  to  pour  in  from 
Richmond,  the  retreat  of  our  side  began.  "  The  men," 
says  Mr.  Reid,  "  had  had  no  sleep  for  two  days  and 
nights,  and  scarcely  anything  to  eat.  In  this  condition 


82  A   TERRIBLE   MARCH. 

they  marched,  frequently  falling  down  asleep  in  the 
road,  it  being  with  great  difficulty  that  they  could  be 
kept  on  their  feet."  The  whole  retreat,  which  continued 
till  Charleston  was  reached  t>n  the  1st  of  July,  was 
attended  with  immense  suffering,  suffering  borne,  as  the 
journal  of  one  of  the  officers  testifies,  with  the  most 
heroic  patience.  "  The  men  had  nothing  to  eat,  the 
trains  having  been  sent  in  advance.  It  is  almost  in 
credible  that  men  should  have  been  able  to  endure  so 
much,  but  they  never  faltered,  and  not  a  murmur  es 
caped  them.  Often  they  would  drop  out  silently,  ex 
hausted,  but  not  a  word  of  complaint  was  spoken." 
During  whole  days  they  pushed  on,  skirmishing  heavily 
with  the  enemy,  who  hung  upon  their  rear,  and  neither 
eating  nor  sleeping.  At  last,  "on  the  27th,  a  supply 
train  was  met  on  Big  Sewell  Mountain,  —  men  all 
crazy,  —  stopped  and*  ate,  marched  and  ate,  camped 
about  dark,  and  ate  all  night." 

Of  this  expedition  and  retreat,  Colonel  Hayes  him 
self  wrote  in  one  of  his  letters  home,  "  "We  have  had 
altogether  the  severest  work  I  have  yet  known  in  the 
war.  We  have  marched  almost  continually  for  two 
months,  fighting  often,  with  insufficient  food  and  sleep ; 
crossed  the  three  ranges  of  the  Alleghanies  four  times, 
the  ranges  of  the  Blue  Ridge  twice ;  marched  several 
times  all  day  and  all  night  without  sleeping.  We  all 
believe  in  our  general  [Crook].  He  is  a  considerate, 
humane  man,  a  thorough  soldier  and  disciplinarian." 

Remaining  at  Charleston  till  the  10th,  Crook's  com 
mand  was  ordered  east  to  meet  Early,  then  invading 


DEFEAT    AT  WINCHESTER.  83 

Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  On  the  18th,  Hayes's 
brigade  was  sent,  without  cavalry  and  with  but  two 
sections  of  a  howitzer  battery,  to  attack  more  than 
twenty  thousand  of  Early's  men  some  ten  miles  beyond 
Harper's  Ferry.  They  were  surrounded  by  two  divis 
ions  of  rebel  cavalry,  but  cut  their  way  through  and 
got  safely  back  to  camp,  joining  Crook  at  Winchester 
011  the  22d.  Here,  two  days  afterwards,  Hayes  shared 
in  the  first  defeat  he  had  known.  His '  brigade  was 
sent  out  to  meet  what  was  supposed  to  be  a  recon- 
noissance  in  force  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  with 
orders  to  join  his  right  to  that  of  another  brigade,  and 
charge  with  it.  This  brigade  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Mulligan.  Hayes  rode  out  to  the  right  of  his 
line  in  an  open  valley,  and  made  himself  known  to 
Mulligan,  whose  orders  he  found  were  to  fight  with 
him  and  keep  the  two  lines  together ;  also  to  attack 
whatever  was  in  front.  These  coincided  with  Hayes's 
instructions,  and  the  brigade  prepared  to  attack.  Two 
lines  of  rebels,  fighting  as  skirmishers,  were  alone  vis 
ible,  but  there  were  reports  of  the  enemy  on  the  hills 
to  the  right  and  left,  inclosing  the  valley  in  which  the 
brigades  were  drawn  up.  A  little  closer  inspection 
now  developed  the  enemy  on  these  hills  in  immense 
force.  The  two  colonels  perceived  that  they  were  in  a 
trap,  but  they  pushed  forward  according  to  orders,  and 
in  five  minutes  Colonel  Mulligan  fell,  pierced  with  five 
balls.  The  enemy  came  to  meet  the  attack,  and  closing 
upon  our  vastly  inferior  force,  easily  drove  it  before 
them,  Hayes's  brigade  retreating  till  it  struck  a  rough, 


84  A    RETREAT   IN   GOOD   ORDER. 

wooded  hill.  Here  he  formed  his  men,  Colonel  Comly 
of  the  twenty-third  being  wounded  at  this  point,  and 
held  the  hill  while  the  enemy  pressed  him  hard  on  all 
sides.  His  resistance  threw  them  into  some  confusion. 
He  cleared  his  line  of  them,  and  continued  his  retreat 
in  good  order,  although  attacked  continually  for  twelve 
miles.  When  the  enemy  pressed  his  men  too  hard,  they 
turned  and  beat  them  back,  and  so  made  good  their 
escape.  They  presently  joined  Crook's  force,  and  the 
retreat  continued  till  midnight,  when  the  enemy  ceased 
to  pursue.  From  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  ground,  and 
the  position  of  the  opposing  forces,  Hayes  was  probably 
then  in  greater  danger  than  he  had  ever  been  before, 
all  the  officers  being  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy's 
sharp-shooters,  who  could  easily  pick  them  off  at  short 
range  ;  but  he  lived  to  retrieve  the  disastrous  fortunes 
of  that  day  on  the  same  field  a  little  later.  His  horse 
was  shot  under  him,  and  he  was  struck  in  the  siioulder 
by  a  spent  ball.  His  brigade,  after  being  in  the  hottest 
of  the  fight,  was  in  condition  to  cover  the  retreat  as 
rear  guard,  which  it  did  successfully  for  twenty-four 
hours.  '  "  We  are  queer  beings,"  he  writes  from  his 
camp  near  Sharpsburg,  two  days  after ;  "  the  camp  is 
now  alive  with  laughter  and  good  feeling  —  more  so 
than  usual  —  the  recoil  after  so  much  toil  and  anx 
iety." 

For  almost  a  month  Hayes's  brigade  was  engaged  in 
daily  skirmishing,  with  varying  fortune,  up  and  down 
the  Shenaudoah  Valley,  till  at  Halltown,  on  the  23d 
of  August,  he  repulsed  an  attack,  dashing  out  and 


A   BRILLIANT   ACHIEVEMENT.  85 

picking  up  "a  small  South  Carolina  regiment  entire." 
"  This  charge  was  brilliantly  executed,"  says  Mr.  Reid, 
"  and  excited  astonishment  among  the  rebel  prisoners," 
who  expressed  their  surprise  in  the  characteristic  de 
mand,  "Who  the are  you  'uns?  " 

On  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  September,  at  Berry- 
ville,  an  engagement  of  uncommon  fierceness  took  place 
between  the  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi  division 
under  Kershaw  and  the  Kanawha  division,  Hayes's 
brigade  sustaining  the  hardest  of  it.  At  ten  o'clock  the 
fighting  ceased  without  decided  victory,  though  the 
rebels  were  killed  and  taken  in  large  numbers.  They 
were  of  Longstreet's  crack  division,  and  had  charged 
with  wild  yells,  confident  of  victory,  but  Hayes's  men 
drove  them  back  with  tremendous  slaughter.  The 
battle  had  begun  an  hour  before  sunset  with  the  at 
tempt  of  the  Union  forces  to  hold  a  piece  of  turnpike 
road,  by  which  a  body  of  cavalry,  sent  to  cut  off  the 
supplies  in  the  rear  of  Early's  army,  were  to  rejoin  our 
Kanawha  division.  Hayes  posted  his  men  behind  a  ter 
race  wall  for  quarter  of  a  mile  along  the  road,  remain 
ing  himself  on  horseback  in  full  sight,  while  the  enemy 
charged.  The  enemy  came  within  a  few  yards.  Hayes's 
men  rose  with  a  yell,  and  struck  them  with  a  deadly 
fire,  every  shot  of  which  told,  and  then  charged  in  their 
turn.  The  rebels,  thrown  into  wild  disorder,  turned 
and  ran,  pursued  to  their  reserve  line,  where  they  ral 
lied  and  repulsed  their  pursuers,  who  took  cover  in  a 
piece  of  woods.  Now  ensued  a  strange  conflict.  The 
commanders  on  either  side  were  desirous  to  withdraw 


86  A   STRANGE   CONFLICT. 

their  men.  Crook  sent  Hayes  word  to  let  the  fire  die  if 
he  could  (and  the  rebels  for  their  part  were  willing), 
but  not  to  stop  till  the  enemy  stopped.  So  the  men 
were  ordered  to  let  the  fire  drop,  and  they  fired  more 
and  more  infrequently,  till  it  came  to  only  a  shot  at  a 
time ;  then  suddenly  three  or  four  would  fire  by  chance 
together,  and  on  this  the  whole  of  both  sides  would  en 
gage  again.  At  last,  without  the  retirement  of  either 
army,  the  surgeons  and  burying  parties  from  both  sides 
began  to  mingle  together  with  lanterns,  looking  for  the 
wounded  and  the  dead  between  the  hosts.  Only  at  the 
apparition  of  these  spectral  lights,  flitting  hither  and 
thither  over  the  bloody  field,  and  hovering  where  death 
or  anguish  lay,  did  the  battle  cease. 

Speaking  of  the  engagement  afterwards,  and  especially 
of  the  moment  when  he  sat  his  horse  exposed  to  the 
full  fire  of  the  enemy,  while  his  men  lay  crouched  be 
hind  the  terrace  wall  by  the  roadside,  Hayes  recognized 
the  peril  in  which  he  had  been.  "  But,"  he  added, 
"  I  enjoyed  the  excitement  more  than  ever,  —  my  men 
behaved  so  well !  " 


CHAPTER   IX. 

OPEQUAN,  FISHER'S  HILL,  AND  CEDAR  CREEK. 

THE  battle  of  Opequan  was  fought  on  the  19th  of 
September,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Winchester,  where 
two  months  before  Hayes  had  so  gallantly  sustained 
his  first  and  only  defeat.  Mr.  Reid's  vivid  and  stir 
ring  account  of  the  battle  gives  the  highest  honor  to 
Hayes,  who  had  the  extreme  right  of  Crook's  command 
in  making  a  flank  attack.  "  The  position  was  reached 
under  cover  of  an  almost  impenetrable  growth  of  cedar, 
crossing  a  swampy  stream.  Here  the  division  was 
halted  and  formed.  First  brigade  (Hayes's)  in  front, 
and  second  (Johnson's)  in  rear.  Throwing  out  a 
light  line  of  skirmishers,  the  brigade  advanced  rapidly 
to  the  front,  driving  the  enemy's  cavalry.  The  national 
cavalry  at  the  same  time  advanced  out  of  the  woods  on 
the  right.  After  advancing  in  this  way  across  two  or 
three  open  fields  under  a  scattering  fire,  the  crest  of  a 
slight  elevation  was  reached,  when  the  enemy's  infantry 
line  came  into  view  off  diagonally  to  the  left  front,  and 
he  opened  a  brisk  artillery  fire.  Moving  forward 
double-quick  under  this  fire,  the  brigade  reached  a  thick 
fringe  of  underbrush,  dashing  through  which  it  came 
upon  a  deep  slough  forty  or  fifty  yards  wide,  and  nearly 


88  HAYES   AT    OPEQUAN. 

waist-deep,  with  soft  mud  at  the  bottom,  overgrown 
with  a  thick  bed  of  moss  nearly  strong  enough  to  bear 
the  weight  of  a  man.  It  seemed  impossible  to  get 
through  it,  and  the  whole  line  was  staggered  for  a  mo 
ment.  Just  then  Colonel  Hayes  plunged  in  with  his 
horse,  and  under  a  shower  of  bullets  and  shells,  with  his 
horse  sometimes  down,  he  rode,  waded,  and  dragged  his 
way  through,  and  after  a  pause  long  enough  to  partially 
re-form  the  line,  charged  forward  again,  yelling  and 
driving  the  enemy.  Sheridan's  old  cavalry  kept  close 
up  on  the  right,  having  passed  around  the  slough,  and 
every  time  the  enemy  was  driven  from  cover  charged 
and  captured  a  large  number  of  prisoners.  This  plan 
was  followed  throughout  the  battle,  by  which  the  cavalry 
was  rendered  very  effective.  In  one  of  these  charges, 
Colonel  Duvall,  the  division  commander,  was  wounded 
and  carried  from  the  field,  leaving  Colonel  Hayes  in 
command.  He  was  everywhere,  exposing  himself  reck 
lessly,  as  usual.  lie  was  the  first  over  the  slough,  he 
was  in  advance  of  the  line  half  the  time  afterwards. 
Men  were  dropping  all  around  him,  but  he  rode  through 
it  all  as  if  he  had  a  charmed  life.  • 

"  No  reinforcements,  no  demonstration  as  promised  ; 
something  must  be  done  to  stop  the  murderous,  concen 
trated  fire  that  is  cutting  the  force  so  dreadfully.  Se 
lecting  some  Saxony  rifles  in  the  twenty-third,  pieces 
of  seventy-one  calibre,  with  a  range  of  twelve  hundred 
yards,  Lieutenant  McBride  was  ordered  forward  with 
them  to  kill  the  enemy's  artillery  horses  in  plain  sight. 
They  movrd  forward  under  cover  as  much  as  possible. 


THE   FIRST   MAN    OVER   THE   BOG.  89 

At  the  first  shot  a  horse  drops ;  almost  immediately 
another  is  killed ;  a  panic  seems  to  seize  the  artillery, 
and  they  commence  limbering  up.  The  infantry  take 
the  alarm,  and  a  few  begin  running  from  the  intrench- 
ments.  The  whole  line  rises,  and  with  a  tremendous 
yell  our  men  rush  frantically  from  the  breastwork,  and 
thus,  without  stopping  to  fire  another  shot,  the  enemy 
ran  in  utter  confusion — that  terrible  cavalry  which 
had  been  hovering  like  a  cloud  on  the  flanks,  sweeping 
down  on  the  rebels  and  capturing  them  by  regiments." 
Another  account  of  the  battle  states  that  the  fight 
began  at  daylight,  and  that  at  noon  the  tide  was  rather 
against  the  Union  forces.  It  was  at  this  moment,  while 
the  rebels  in  Winchester  were  rejoicing  over  the  vic 
tory,  that  Hayes's  brigade  led  the  charge  through  the 
slough.  It  was  in  fact  a  deep  creek,  with  high  banks, 
very  boggy  margins,  and  some  twenty-five  yards  in 
width.  The  rebel  fire  burst  out  in  all  its  fury  as  the 
line  reached  this  formidable  obstacle.  The  men  wa 
vered,  but  it  was  death  to  stop  now.  Hayes  was  the 
first  to  take  the  plunge,  and  his  horse  was  mired  under 
him  midway  of  the  slough.  He  dismounted,  and  throw 
ing  himself  forward  on  his  hands  and  knees  managed, 
while  the  shot  and  shell  struck  all  round  him  in  the 
morass,  by  crawling,  swimming,  and  floundering  on,  to 
reach  the  other  shore  alone.  When  he  reached  the 
shore,  the  bank  was  so  steep  that  the  enemy's  fire  could 
not  strike  him,  and  when  he  had  regained  his  feet,  he 
turned  about.to  see  who  was  coming  next.  Captain  Ben 
jamin  F.  Stearns,  of  the  thirty-sixth  Ohio,  a  very  brave 


90     HAYES'S  INFANTRY  AND  SHERIDAN'S  HORSE. 

and  gallant  officer,  was  coming  next.  He  was  just  at 
hand  as  Hayes  turned,  and  his  presence  undoubtedly 
brought  great  comfort  to  his  commander,  there  within 
twenty -five  feet  of  the  rebel  line.  Hayes  raised  his 
cap,  Stearns  lifted  his,  and  smiling,  the  comrades  shook 
hands.  Then  Hayes  beckoned  to  his  men  with  his 
cap  ;  at  once  the  morass  was  full  of  them,  swarming 
over  as  they  could ;  and  when  some  two  score  had 
landed,  they  charged  up  the  bank  upon  the  enemy, 
who,  never  dreaming  of  an  attack  at  this  point,  had 
left  his  artillery  unsupported.  The  batteries  were 
taken,  and  the  whole  of  Crook's  command  having 
crossed,  his  men  charged  a  strongly  posted  rebel  line 
five  hundred  yards  beyond  the  first.  Their  charge  was 
made  in  the  teeth  of  a  destructive  fire ;  at  times  they 
wavered  under  the  storm  of  grape  and  musketry,  but 
the  flags  were  pushed  on,  and  the  straggling  crowd 
followed.  The  affair  began  to  look  dark,  when,  "  at 
the  most  critical  moment,"  writes  Hayes,  in  a  letter 
dated  two  days  after  the  battle,  "  that  splendid  cavalry, 
with  sabres  drawn,  moved  slowly  around  our  right, 
beyond  the  creek,  then  at  a  trot,  and  finally,  with 
shouts  and  a  gallop,  charged  right  into  the  rebel  lines. 
We  pushed  on,  and  away  broke  the  rebels." 

The  battle  of  Fisher's  Hill  occurred  the  day  after 
that  of  Opequan.  It  was,  in  fact,  rather  a  victory  than 
a  fight,  and  consisted  simply  of  a  wholesale  capture  of 
artillery  by  our  forces,  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  The 
enemy  had  retreated  some  twenty-five  miles  up  the 
valley  of  the  Shenandoah  to  a  point  where  the  valley, 


FIRST   AT   THE   REBEL   LINES.  91 

narrowing  to  a  breadth  of  three  miles,  is  traversed  by 
the  mountain  ridge  called  Fisher's  Hill ;  and  here  they 
had  fortified  a  naturally  strong  position,  and  were  ap 
parently  impregnably  intrenched.  After  consultation 
between  Crook  and  Sheridan,  it  was,  upon  Crook's  in- 
sistance,  resolved  not  to  attack  them  in  front,  though  it 
was  believed  that  an  army  demoralized  by  so  recent 
defeat  could  be  broken  even  in  that  position,  but  to 
turn  their  left.  Crook  took  Hayes's  division  (by  the 
wounding  of  Duvall,  Hayes  was  in  command  of  both 
brigades),  and  the  general  and  colonel  rode  together 
at  the  head  of  the  men.  As  the  steeper  ascent  began, 
all  the  officers  dismounted  except  Hayes,  but  he  had 
replaced  the  charger  mired  in  the  slough  at  Opequan 
with  a  teamster's  horse,  whose  surefootedness  enabled 
him  to  carry  his  rider  anywhere.  The  force  clambered 
up  and  down  mountain  sides  and  through  ravines  till 
they  struck  the  gorge  in  which  the  rebels  were  posted, 
when  Hayes  led  the  charge  by  galloping  right  down 
upon  the  rebel  lines.  The  whole  division  followed 
with  a  yell,  and  the  rebels  —  men  of  Jackson's  old 
corps  and  Early's  veterans  —  broke  and  ran  in  hope 
less  panic,  losing  every  gun. 

Early  on  the  19th  of  October  the  famous  battle  of 
Cedar  Creek  began  with  the  disastrous  defeat  of  our 
troops  under  General  Wright,  who  commanded  in  Sher 
idan's  absence,  and  suffered  himself  to  be  surprised  by 
Early  and  Longstreet.  Anxious  for  his  right  flank,  he 
found  himself  suddenly  struck  on  the  left,  under  cover 
of  a  heavy  fog,  in  which  his  assailants  had  all  the  ad- 


92  WINNING    BACK   THE   BATTLE. 

vantages.  In  fifteen  minutes  the  enemy  was  in  his 
camps,  and  his  force  thrown  into  utter  confusion  and 
in  flight  towards  Winchester.  A  few  miles  from  that 
place  the  first  fugitives  met  a  major-general  on  a  black 
horse  gayly  trotting  down  the  road,  who  at  sight  of 
them  quickened  his  trot  to  a  gallop.  He  swung  his 
cap,  smiled  cheerily,  and  said,  "  Face  the  other  way, 
boys.  We  are  going  back  to  our  camps  ;  "  and  as  he 
met  regiment  after  regiment,  "  Boys,  this  never  would 
have  happened  if  I  had  been  here.  And  now  we  are 
going  back  to  our  camps."  It  was  Sheridan,  and  the 
rout  became  a  march  to  victory.  The  beaten  army 
turned,  drove  the  enemy  from  their  camp,  and  broke 
him  to  atoms  along  the  whole  line,  capturing  nearly  all 
his  transportation,  and  retaking  their  lost  artillery. 
This  is  the  story  in  brief,  but  it  cannot  be  too  fully 
told,  nor  too  often.  Mr.  Reid's  accounts  of  it  in  his 
sketch  of  Sheridan's  life,  and  his  narrative  of  the 
twenty-third  regiment,  are,  like  all  the  battle-pieces  of 
his  "  Ohio  in  the  War,"  graphic  and  dramatic,  and  at 
the  same  time  admirably  clear.  "  The  situation,"  he 
says,  "  in  a  few  minutes  after  the  attack,  was  about 
this :  Crook's  command,  overpowered  and  driven  from 
their  advanced  position,  were  forming  on  the  left  of 
the  nineteenth  corps,  which  corps  was  just  getting  into 
action,  the  left  being  hotly  engaged,  but  not  so  much 
so  as  Crook's  command  yet.  The  right  of  the  line  had 
not  been  engaged  at  all,  and  was  not  for  some  time 
after.  While  the  line  was  in  this  situation,  the  trains 
were  all  slowly  moving  off.  A  desperate  stand  was 


ENTER   SHERIDAN.  93 

made  by  the  shattered  lines  of  Crook's  command  to 
save  the  head-quarters'  train  of  the  army,  which  came 

last  from  the  right,  and  it  succeeded From 

this  time  the  whole  line  fell  slowly  back,  fighting  stub 
bornly,  to  a  new  position  which  had  been  selected. 
There  they  halted,  and  the  enemy  seemed  content  with 
shelling  us. 

"  General  Crook  lay  a  couple  of  rods  away  from  tho 
line,  in  a  place  which  seemed  more  particularly  exposed 
than  any  other  part  of  the  line.  Colonel  Hayes  lay  close 
by,  badly  bruised  from  his  fall,  and  grumbling  because 
the  troops  did  not  charge  the  enemy's  line  instead  of 
waiting  to  be  charged.  Suddenly  there  is  a  dash  in  the 
rear,  on  the  Winchester  pike ;  and  almost  before  they 
are  aware,  a  young  man  in  full  major-general's  uniform, 
and  riding  furiously  a  magnificent  black  horse,  literally 
'  flecked  with  foam,'  reins  up  and  springs  off  by  Gen 
eral  Crook's  side.  There  is  a  perfect  roar  as  everybody 
recognizes  —  SHERIDAN  !  He  talks  with  Crook  a  little 
while,  cutting  away  at  the  tops  of  the  weeds  with  his 
riding-whip.  General  Crook  speaks  half  a  dozen  sen 
tences  that  sound  a  good  deal  like  the  crack  of  the 
whip  ;  and  by  that  time  some  of  the  staff  are  up.  They 
are  sent  flying  in  different  directions.  Sheridan  and 
Crook  lie  down  and  seem  to  be  talking,  and  all  is  quiet 
again,  except  the  vicious  shells  of  the  different  batteries, 
and  the  roar  of  artillery  along  the  line.  After  a  while 
Colonel  Forsyth  comes  down  in  front,  and  shouts  to  the 
general:  "The  nineteenth  corps  is  closed  up,  sir!'1 
Sheridan  jumps  up,  gives  one  more  cut  with  his-  whip, 


94     HAYES'S  STAND  AT  THE  HEAD-QUARTERS. 

whirls  himself  round  once,  jumps  on  his  horse,  and 
starts  up  the  line.  Just  as  he  starts  off  he  says  to  the 
men,  '  We  are  going  to  have  a  good  thing  on  them 
now,  boys ! '  and  so  he  rode  off." 

In  this  battle  Hayes  commanded  the  Kanawha  divis 
ion,  and  being  in  reserve  a  mile  back  from  the  main  line, 
did  not  share  in  its  disaster  when  the  rebels  attacked. 
In  the  stand  made  by  his  division  to  save  the  head-quar 
ters,  the  fighting  was  very  severe,  though  the  men  were 
disheartened  by  the  belief  that  the  enemy  were  in  the 
rear,  and  were  held  to  their  work  with  difficulty.  At  a 
certain  moment  of  the  fight  Hayes  saw  his  right  break 
ing,  and  rode  rapidly  down  to  rally  his  men,  but  they 
melted  away  from  around  him,  and  left  him  exposed 
alone  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  who  filled  the  air  with  a 
hail  of  lead.  He  was  galloping  forward  at  full  speed, 
when  his  horse,  struck  with  a  score  of  balls,  was  killed 
under  him ;  as  the  horse  dropped,  the  rider  was  flung 
over  his  head  and  terribly  bruised  from  crown  to  heel, 
while  the  ankle  of  his  left  foot,  catching  in  the  stirrup, 
was  dislocated.  He  lay  conscious,  but  perfectly  still, 
well  knowing  that  the  slightest  movement  would  bring 
him  a  shower  of  bullets ;  then  at  length,  watching  his 
chance,  he  leaped  to  his  feet  and  regained  his  own  lines, 
after  a  sharp  chase,  and  mounted  his  orderly's  horse. 
He  kept  his  men  in  some  order  and  shook  off  the  en 
emy,  till  the  fog  lifted,  when  they  began  to  fight  with 
more  confidence,  continually  pressed  by  the  enemy,  but 
retreating  slowly  and  in  good  order.  After  retiring 
three  -or  four  miles,  Hayes  joined  his  force  with  another 


HAYES   A   BRIGADIER-GENERAL.  95 

body  and  succeeded  in  checking  the  enemy's  advance ; 
his  men  took  rails  from  the  fences  and  made  fires  for  cof 
fee,  and  he  lay  down  on  the  creek  bank  with  Crook  and 
other  officers,  and  talked  of  the  shame  of  defeat  by  forces 
they  had  beaten  so  often.  Crook  wished  to  attack  them, 
but  Wright  being  in  command,  nothing  was  done.  At 
this  juncture  Sheridan  came  up,  and  after  a  brief  parley 
with  Crook,  said,  "  Boys,  we  will  have  a  good  thing, 
for  we  will  be  in  our  camp  before  night.  Set  your 
watches,"  and  he  fixed  the  minute  when  they  were  to 
move  out.  At  three  o'clock  they  attacked  the  enemy 
and  surprised  him  in  turn,  and  the  victory  followed.  In 
spite  of  his  dislocated  ankle  and  the  injuries  received  in 
his  fall,  Hayes  was  able  to  keep  the  saddle  throughout 
the  day  ;  before  the  close  he  received  another  wound, 
but  it  was  slight ;  he  was  struck  in  the  head  by  a  spent 
ball. 

That  night,  Sheridan,  denouncing  the  manner  in 
which  his  army  had  been  used  by  having  so  many 
divisions  commanded  by  colonels,  said  to  Hayes,  "  You 
will  be  a  brigadier-general  from  this  time."  When 
the  promotion  actually  came,  he  wrote  home  a  letter 
so  like  himself,  in  due  sense  of  the  honor  and  in  de 
cent  self-respect,  that  we  shall  need  no  excuse,  with  the 
reader  at  least,  in  giving  it  here  in  full. 

"  General  Crook  gave  me  a  very  agreeable  present 
this  afternoon  —  a  pair  of  his  old  brigadier-general 
straps.  The  stars  are  somewhat  dimmed  with  hard 
service,  but  will  correspond  pretty  well  with  my  rusty 
old  blouse.  Of  course,  I  am  very  much  gratified  with 


96  ODDS  IN   BRIGADIERS. 

the  promotion.  I  know  perfectly  well  that  the  rank 
has  been  conferred  on  all  sorts  of  small  people,  and  so 
cheapened  shamefully,  but  I  can't  help  feeling  that 
getting  it  at  the  close  of  a  most  bloody  campaign,  on 
the  recommendation  of  fighting  generals  like  Crook 
and  Sheridan,  is  a  different  thing  from  the  same  rank 
conferred  —  well,  as  it  has  been  in  some  instances." 

Whilst  he  was  doing  all  that  hard  fighting  in  the 
valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  he  had  been  elected  to 
Congress  from  the  second  Ohio  district,  and  he  got  the 
news  after  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek.  In  one  of  his 
admirable  letters  home  he  expresses  his  gratification,  but 
adds :  "  My  particular  gratification  is  much  less  than  it 
would  be  if  I  were  not  so  much  more  gratified  by  my 
good  luck  in  winning  '  golden  opinions  '  in  the  more 
stirring  scenes  around  me  here.  My  share  of  notoriety 
here  is  nothing  at  all,  and  my  real  share  of  merit  is 
also  small  enough,  I  know ;  but  the  consciousness  that  I 
am  doing  my  part  in  these  brilliant  actions,  is  far  more 
gratifying  than  anything  the  election  brings  me." 

Between  the  beginning  of  May  and  end  of  October, 
1864,  Hayes  was  under  fire  on  sixty  days,  and  he  was 
under  fire  on  se'ven  hundred  days  in  the  course  of  the 
war.  He  was  four  times  wounded,  the  severest  wound 
being  that  received  at  South  Mountain.  Yet  the 
wound  from  which  he  has  suffered  most  is  hardly  to 
be  called  a  wound  at  all.  A  fragment  of  shell  struck 
so  close  to  his  knee  as  to  cut  his  pantaloons  clean 
away  at  that  point ;  he  rode  through  the  day,  and  never 
made  anything  of  the  affair,  but  now,  after  twelve 


A  WOUND   THAT   WILL  NOT   DISABLE.  97 

years,  this  merely  approximate  hurt  troubles  him  more 
than  all  the  rest,  especially  in  going  up  stairs. 

It  is  believed,  however,  that  it  will  not  prevent  hia 
ascent  of  the  Capitol  steps,  on  the  4th  of  March  next. 

7 


ERRATUM. 

On  page  96,  eighth  line  from  bottom,  for.  "  seven  hun 
dred  days,"  read  "  about  one  hundred  days." 


96  ODDS   IN   BRIGADIERS. 

the  promotion.  I  know  perfectly  well  that  the  rank 
has  been  conferred  on  all  sorts  of  small  people,  and  so 
cheapened  shamefully,  but  I  can't  help  feeling  that 
getting  it  at  the  close  of  a  most  bloody  campaign,  oil 
the  recommendation  of  fighting  generals  like  Crook 
and  Sheridan,  is  a  different  thing  from  the  same  rank 
conferred  —  well,  as  it  has  been  in  some  instances." 
Whilst  he  was  doing  all  that  hard  fighting  in  the 


here  is  ii6Ulilig  111  mi,  mm  iuj   

also  small  enough,  I  know ;  but  the  consciousness  that  I 
am  doing  my  part  in  these  brilliant  actions,  is  far  more 
gratifying  than  anything  the  election  brings  me." 

Between  the  beginning  of  May  and  end  of  October, 
1864,  Hayes  was  under  fire  on  sixty  days,  and  he  was 
under  fire  on  tBven  hundred  days  in  the  course  of  the 
war.  He  was  four  times  wounded,  the  severest  wound 
being  that  received  at  South  Mountain.  Yet  the 
wound  from  which  he  has  suffered  most  is  hardly  to 
be  called  a  wound  at  all.  A  fragment  of  shell  struck 
so  close  to  his  knee  as  to  cut  his  pantaloons  clean 
away  at  that  point ;  he  rode  through  the  day,  and  never 
made  anything  of  the  affair,  but  now,  after  twelve 


A  WOUND   THAT   WILL  NOT   DISABLE.  97 

years,  this  merely  approximate  hurt  troubles  him  more 
than  all  the  rest,  especially  in  going  up  stairs. 

It  is  believed,  however,  that  it  will  not  prevent  his 
ascent  of  the  Capitol  steps,  on  the  4th  of  March  next. 

7 


CHAPTER   X. 

TWICE    CONGRESSMAN,  THRICE  GOVERNOR,  AND    NOMI 
NEE    FOR    PRESIDENT. 

HAYES  was  first  nominated  for  Congress  by  the  Re 
publicans  of  the  second  Cincinnati  district  in  August, 
and  elected  in  October,  1864,  in  the  very  hottest  of 
the  Shenandoah  Valley  fighting,  when  nearly  every  day 
brought  its  battle,  and  every  day  was  full  of  suffering 
and  danger.  The  letter  which  he  wrote  when  the 
news  of  his  nomination  reached  him,  with  a  hint  that 
his  presence  in  Cincinnati  would  secure  his  election,  is 
as  magnanimous  as  Clay's  "  I  would  rather  be  right 
than  be  President,"  and  its  words  are  such  as  deserve 
to  live  long  after  this  political  campaign,  whatever  its 
results  may  be,  is  forgotten.  He  confesses  that  though 
he  had  cared  very  little  about  being  a  candidate,  he  pre 
fers  now  to  succeed  after  having  consented  to  the  use 
of  his  name,  but  as  to  the  matter  of  going  home  OH  fur 
lough,  he  adds :  "  An  officer  Jit  for  duty,  who  at  this 
crisis  would  abandon  his  post  to  electioneer  for  Congress, 
omjht  to  be  scalped.  You  may  feel  perfectly, sure  I  shall 
do  no  such  thing? 

He  had  not,  of  course,  sought  the  nomination,  but  at 
the  urgence  of  his  friends  he  had  let  the  matter  take 


ELECTED   TO   CONGRESS   WHILE  IN   THE   FIELD.      99 

its  course,  and  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  which 
showed  that  no  other  Republican  could  have  carried  the 
district.  But  he  did  not  take  his  seat  in  Congress  till 
after  the  war  was  over,  and  the  faithful  troops  he  had 
so  long  commanded  no  longer  had  a  foe  to  face. 

After  the  Shenandoah  Valley  campaign,  his  command 
went  into  winter  quarters  and  was  not  engaged  after 
wards.  In  the  comparative  quiet  of  this  time  he  felt  free 
to  ask  leave  of  absence,  and  he  went  to  Washington  to 
see  Lincoln  inaugurated,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1865  (hav 
ing  first  paid  a  brief  visit  to  his  family  in  Ohio),  and  then 
returned  to  camp.  The  news  of  the  President's  murder 
came  to  him  with  shocking  force  after  so  recently  wit 
nessing  his  entry  upon  a  second  term  of  beneficent 
power,  and  Hayes  immediately  wrote  to  his  wife  a  let 
ter  too  good  in  itself,  and  too  significant  in  many  ways, 
to  be  omitted  from  this  record.  It  is  not  merely  a  testi 
mony  to  character  and  feeling  on  his  part,  but  it  is  sug 
gestive  of  her  enlightened  sympathy  with  him  in  mat 
ters  of  public  concern,  and  hints  of  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart  in  her  more  common  to  the  White  House  in 
the  days  of  Mrs.  Washington  and  of  Mrs.  Madison  than 
in  our  own. 

"NEW  CREEK,  WEST  VIRGINIA,  16^  April  (Sunday),  1865. 

"  When  I  heard  first,  yesterday  morning,  of  the  awful 
tragedy  at  Washington,  I  was  pained  and  shocked  to  a 
degree  I  have  never  before  experienced.  I  got  on  to 
the  cars,  then  just  starting,  and  rode  down  to  Cumber 
land.  The  probable  consequences,  or  rather  the  pos 
sible  results,  in  their  worst  imaginable  form,  were  pre- 


100  LETTER   ON   LINCOLN^  DEATH. 

sented  to  my  mind,  one  after  the  other,  until  I  really 
began  to  feel  that  here  was  a  calamity  so  extensive 
that  in  no  direction  could  be  found  any,  the  slightest 
glimmer,  of  consolation.  The  nation's  great  joy  turned 
suddenly  to  a  still  greater  sorrow  !  A  ruler  tested  and 
proved  in  every  way,  and  in  every  way  found  equal  to 
the  occasion,  to  be  exchanged  for  a  new  man  whose 
ill-omened  beginning  made  the  nation  hang  its  head ! 
Lincoln  for  Johnson  !  The  work  of  reconstruction, 
requiring  so  much  statesmanship,  just  begun !  The 
calamity  to  Mr.  Lincoln  in  a  personal  point  of  view 
so  uncalled  for  a  fate  !  —  so  undeserved,  so  unpro 
voked  !  The  probable  effect  upon  the  future  of  pub 
lic  men  in  this  country,  the  necessity  for  guards  ;  our 
ways  to  be  assimilated  to  those  of  the  despotisms  of 
the  old  world  —  and  so  I  would  find  my  mind  filled 
only  with  images  of  evil  and  calamity,  until  I  felt  a 
sinking  of  heart  hardly  equaled  by  that  which  op 
pressed  us  all  when  the  defeat  of  our  army  at  Manassas, 
almost  crushed  the  nation.  But  slowly,  as  in  all  cases 
of  great  affliction,  one  comes  to  feel  that  it  is  not  all 
darkness ;  the  catastrophe  is  so  much  less,  happening 
now,  than  it  would  have  been  at  any  time  before,  since 
Mr.  Lincoln's  election.  At  the  period  after  his  first 
inauguration  ;  at  any  of  the  periods  of  great  public 
confusion  ;  during  the  pendency  of  the  last  presiden 
tial  election  ;  at  any  time  before  the  defeat  of  Lee, 
such  a  calamity  might  have  sealed  the  nation's  doom. 
Now,  the  march  of  events  can't  be  stayed,  probably 
can't  be  much  changed.  It  is  possible  that  a  greater 


ESTIMATE   OF  LINCOLN'S   CHARACTER.          101 

degree  of  severity  in  dealing  with  the  rebellion  may 
be  ordered,  and  that  may  be  for  the  best.  As  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  name  and  fame  and  memory,  —  all  is  safe. 
His  firmness,  moderation,  goodness  of  heart ;  his  quaint 
humor,  his  perfect  honesty  and  directness  of  purpose, 
his  logic,  his  modesty,  his  sound  judgment  and  great 
wisdom  ;  the  contrast  between  his  obscure  beginnings 
and  the  greatness  of  his  subsequent  position  and 
achievements  ;  his  tragic  death,  giving  him  almost  the 
crown  of  martyrdom,  elevate  him  to  a  place  in  his 
tory  second  to  none  other  in  ancient  or  modern  times. 
His  success  in  his  great  office,  his  hold  upon  the  confi 
dence  and  affections  of  his  countrymen,  we  shall  all 
say  are  only  second  to  Washington's  ;  we  shall  prob 
ably  feel  and  think  that  they  are  not  second  even  to 
his." 

In  April,  Hayes,  to  his  own  regret  and  the  grief  of 
his  old  brigade,  was  transferred  to  a  new  command 
under  Hancock,1  and  he  was  the  leader  of  that  expedi- 

1  Hayes  bade  his  old  command  farewell  in  terms  expressive  of  the 
strong  affection  existing  between  them  :  — 

"It  is  with  very  great  regret  that  I  have  been  compelled  to  part 
with  the  officers  and  men  of  the  first  brigade.  With  many  of  you 
I  have  been  associated  in  the  service  almost  four  years;  with  three 
of  the  regiments  of  the  brigade  more  than  two  years,  and  with  all  the 
regiments  during  the  memorable  campaign  of  1864.  The  battle  of 
Cloyd  Mountain  ;  the  burning  of  New  River  bridge,  and  the  night 
march  over  Salt  Pond  Mountain  under  General  Crook  in  May;  the 
days  and  nights  of  marching,  fighting,  and  starving  on  the  Lynch- 
burg  raid  in  June;  the  defeat  at  Winchester,  and  the  retreat  on  the 
24th  and  25th  of  July;  the  skirmishing,  marching,  and  countermarch 
ing  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  in  August;  the  bloody  and  brilliant 
victories  in  September;  the  night  battle  at  Berry ville  ;  the  turn- 


102.  ,  .    AETJNG-F$OM  BIS  'OLD  BRIGADE. 


tion  against  Lynchburg  which  was  given  up  after  Lee's 
surrender  and  the  ruin  of  the  Confederacy.  Shortly 
after,  the  work  being  done  and  other  work  calling  him, 
he  sent  in  his  resignation,  which  took  effect  on  the 
1st  of  June.  But  before  he  left  the  army  he  had  the 
glory  of  participating  in  the  grand  review  at  Wash 
ington  ;  and  no  one  in  all  those  hundred  thousands 
had  a  better  right  to  the  triumph  of  that  great  day 
than  this  honest  man,  this  faithful  soldier,  this  stain 
less  patriot. 

ing  of  the  enemy's  left  at  Sheridan's  battle  of  Winchester;  the  ava 
lanche  which  swept  down  North  Mountain  upon  the  rebel  stronghold 
at  Fisher's  Hill;  the  final  conflict  in  October;  the  surprise  and  defeat 
of  the  morning,  and  the  victory  of  the  evening  at  Cedar  Creek,  — 
these  and  a  thousand  other  events  and  scenes  in  the  campaign  of  1864 
form  part  of  our  common  recollections  which  we  are  not  likely  ever 
to  forget.  As  long  as  they  are  remembered,  we  shall  be  reminded  of 
each  other  and  of  the  friendly  and  agreeable  relation  which  so  long 
existed  between  us. 

"  It  is  very  gratifying  to  me  that  I  was  allowed  to  serve  with  you 
until  we  received  together  the  tidings  of  the  great  victory  which  ends 
the  rebellion.  Whatever  may  be  your  fortune,  I  shall  not  cease  to 
feel  a  lively  interest  in  everything  which  concerns  your  welfare  and 
reputation." 

Hayes  himself  afterwards  came  to  acquiesce  in  the  change,  but  his 
old  brigade  was  not  so  easily  consoled.  One  of  his  officers  wrote  :  — 

"WINCHESTER,  VIRGINIA,  April  20,  1865. 

"When  I  learned  that  you  were  taken  away  from  us,  I  was  so  in 
dignant  I  could  hardly  refrain  from  language  considered  highly  un- 
military  ;  not  that  I  have  aught  against  our  present  brigade  com- 
inaiulrr  —  f<>r  ho  has  my  confidence  and  respect  —  but  because  I  think 
that  by  a  just  and  equitable  title,  sealed  with  blood,  dearlv  bought, 
and  fairly  won,  this  is  your  briyade.  In  this  war  men  become  attached 
to  each  other  by  more  than  common  ties.  I  have  been  clear  '  through 
the  mill,'  from  Washington  to  Chattanooga;  you  are  my  choice  of  all 
the  brigade  commanders  I  have  been  under,  save  and  except  Crook." 


NOT  A  CONGRESSIONAL  ORATOR.      103 

In  October,  Hayes  returned  to  Cincinnati  and  re 
opened  his  old  house,  and  in  December  he  took  his  seat 
in  Congress,  where  he  at  once  made  himself  quietly 
felt  as  a  thorough  and  diligent  worker.  Two  or  three 
ingrained  habits  of  his  life  forbade  him  to  make  him 
self  conspicuous  on  the  floor.  In  the  first  place,  as 
we  have  already  repeatedly  shown,  it  was  Hayes's  cus 
tom  to  study  any  new  business  and  fit  himself  for  suc 
cess  in  it,  and  congressmanship  was  an  entirely  new 
business  to  him.  Then  he  is  a  man  whose  inherent 
modesty  and  self-respect  are  at  one  in  keeping  him 
aloof  from  any  mere  noisy  exhibition  of  himself,  or  from 
attempting  anything  which  he  believes  the  greater  ex 
perience  of  others  will  enable  them  to  perform  better. 
Above  all,  his  army  life  had  given  him  an  ever-increas 
ing  contempt  of  unnecessary  and  intrusive  eloquence, 
and  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  —  one  of  many  eager  that  he 
should  distinguish  himself  in  the  usual  congressional 
way,  —  "I  am  disgusted  at  the  shameful  waste  of  time 
and  patience  the  so-called  orators  of  Washington  make," 
and  he  refused  to  "  distinguish  himself "  accordingly. 
He  went  to  work  as  chairman  of  the  library  com 
mittee,  and  urged  the  extension  and  increase  of  the 
library.  Chiefly  by  his  efforts,  the  space  and  material 
were  increased  threefold ;  the  Force  Historical  Library 
was  added  to  that  of  Congress,  and  the  Smithsonian 
Library  transferred  to  it.  He  was  instrumental  in  the 
purchase  of  many  valuable  works,  and  on  the  com 
mittee,  his  artistic  taste  as  well  as  his  literary  knowl 
edge  were  felt.  No  vote  of  his  ever  favored  the  pur- 


104  WORK  IN   CONGRESS. 

chase  of  trashy  pictures  or  sculptures,  and  he  constantly 
advocated  the  selection  of  known  and  able  artists  for 
government  commissions. 

On  other  committees  he  was  a  conscientious  worker, 
knowing  that  the  real  business  of  legislation  is  done 
across  the  committee  tables,  and  not  by  the  speechifyers 
on  the  floor  of  the  House. 

His  first  vote  was  given  for  a  resolution  requiring  the 
maintenance  of  the  public  faith  "  sacred  and  inviolable  " 
from  "  any  attempt  to  scale  or  repudiate  "  the  national 
debt ;  and  he  early  introduced  and  carried  through  a 
resolution  to  provide  for  the  special  punishment  of 
agents  or  attorneys  defrauding  soldiers  and  sailors  in 
the  matter  of  their  pensions  and  bounties.  Renomi- 
nated  by  acclamation  in  1866,  and  reflected  by  a  ma 
jority  which  showed  a  gain  while  the  rest  of  the  ticket 
showed  a  loss,  he  continued  especially  to  interest  him 
self  in  behalf  of  the  soldiers,  and  as  a  commander 
singularly  beloved  and  trusted  by  his  men  he  was,  of 
course,  overwhelmed  with  their  claims  and  applica 
tions. 

He  refused  here,  as  always,  to  make  his  office  a  means 
of  office ;  he  did  his  duty,  and  let  his  future  take  care 
of  itself.  He  was  always  in  his  seat ;  he  never  shirked 
responsibility  or  dodged  a  vote ;  he  voted  with  his 
party  on  all  the  measures  of  reconstruction,  and  he  was 
incessantly  active  in  a  personal  as  well  as  public  way  in 
securing  the  passage  and  ratification  of  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  amendments. 

Even    before    taking    his   seat    in   Congress,  he  was 


ELECTED  AND   REFLECTED    GOVERNOR.          105 

meditating  retirement  from  public  life,  either  to  his 
uncle's  farm  in  Fremont,  or  his  own  law  practice  in 
Cincinnati,  and  nothing  but  the  sense  of  public  duty  pre 
vailed  with  him  to  accept  the  nomination  for  governor 
of  Ohio,  offered  him  in  1869.  He  gave  up  his  place 
in  Congress,  however,  to  meet  an  emergency  of  national 
significance,  and  in  a  campaign  conducted  with  all  the 
fire  of  a  nature  kindled  through  and  through  by  his 
experiences  in  fighting  the  same  ideas  on  the  battle-field, 
he  beat  his  opponent,  the  present  Senator  Thurman,  by  a 
majority  that  no  one  else  could  have  commanded.  The 
questions  at  issue  were  the  reconstruction  measures, 
which  the  Democrats  assailed,  taking  their  stand  upon 
a  platform  prepared  by  the  late  Mr.  Vallandigluim. 
(whose  course,  only  more  open  than  that  of  Mr.  Tildenpf" 
in  the  war  it  is  merciful  not  to  remember,)  and  prac 
tically  in  favor  of  State  supremacy.  The  canvass  was 
very  excited,  and  Hayes  and  Thurman  spoke  daily 
throughout  the  State,  alternately  attacking  each  other's 
positions,  and  replying  and  rejoining  almost  for  the 
hundredth  time.  Hayes's  personal  popularity  gave  the 
Republicans  their  governor,  but  the  legislature  and  the 
constitutional  amendment  was  lost  by  fifty  thousand  ma 
jority.  That  legislature,  therefore,  refused  to  ratify 
the  amendments,  and  it  elected  Mr.  Thurman  to  the 
United  States  Senate. 

In  1869  Hayes  was  renominated  in  the  Republican 
convention  by  acclamation  ;  and  the  Democrats  nomi 
nated  General  Rosecrans.  That  gallant  soldier  refused 
to  stand  on  a  platform  declaring  that  the  whole  bonded 


106    REFUSAL  TO  TAKE  THE  SENATORSHIP. 

debt  should  be  paid  in  greenbacks,  and  embodying  what 
ever  existed  of  enmity  to  the  cause  for  which  he  had 
fought,  and  the  nomination  was  passed  on  to  Mr.  Pen- 
dleton,  who  hesitatingly  accepted,  and  was  duly  beaten 
at  the  October  elections. 

It  has  been  well  known  in  Ohio  that  Hayes  could 
have  been  easily  elected  United  States  Senator  in  the 
place  of  Mr.  Sherman  in  1872,  if  he  had  been  the  man 
to  profit  by  prosperous  chances  at  the  expense  of  a 
friend  whom  he  honored  and  admired.  The  Republican 
majority  in  the  legislature  was  small,  and  enough  of 
the  Republicans  were  disaffected  to  form  with  the  will 
ing  Democrats  (always  personally  fond  of  Hayes)  the 
number  requisite  to  choose  him.  But  he  promptly 
and  severely  discouraged  the  movement,  and  the  man 
who  ought  to  have  been  elected,  and  who  was  the  choice 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  Republicans,  succeeded  where 
a  sordid  or  selfish  rival  could  have  secured  his  defeat. 

At  the  end  of  his  second  term  as  governor,  Hayes 
wished  to  retire  from  political  life.  "  I,  too,"  he  wrote 
to  a  friend,  "  mean  to  be  out  of  politics.  The  ratifica 
tion  of  the  fifteenth  amendment"  (this  had  in  the  mean 
time  taken  place)  "gives  me  the  boon  of  equality  be 
fore  the  law,  terminates  my  enlistment,  and  discharges 
me  cured."  His  letters  and  journal  entries  are  to  the 
same  effect.  His  interest  in  public  affairs  was  still  in 
tense,  but  personally  he  did  not  care  any  longer  to  take 
part  in  them.  1"  In  spite  of  his  protests,"  as  the  dis 
patch  announcing  the  fact  ran,  he  wa's  nominated  in  his 
old  Cincinnati  district  in  1872  by  the  Republicans,  who 


RETIREMENT   TO   FREMONT.  107 

had  not  ceased  to  ask  for  the  use  of  his  name,  and  who 
had  used  it  against  his  express  desire.  He  went  down 
and  made  the  canvass,  delivering  some  of  his  best 
speeches,  but  the  reaction  against  Republicanism  had 
set  in  so  strongly  that  he  was  beaten,  though  by  a  ma 
jority  not  half  so  great  as  that  which  defeated  his  fellow 
Republican  in  the  other  Cincinnati  district.  He  de 
clined  the  appointment  of  Assistant  United  States  Treas 
urer  at  Cincinnati,  offered  him  by  Grant,  and  retired  to 
Fremont.  His  uncle  Birchard,  his  life-long  benefactor 
and  friend,  died  in  1874,  leaving  him  a  handsome  for 
tune,  and  Hayes  made  the  good  old  man's  house  his 
home,  planning  to  live  there  a  life  of  leisure  and  of 
books,  not  unmindful  of  good  citizenship,  but  no  longer 
troubled  by  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of  active  pol 
itics. 

His  journals  of  this  period  form  a  curious  study  of 
such  a  man  in  the  fulfillment  of  such  a  purpose.  His 
keen  delight  in  nature  is  oddly  mingled  with  his  inex 
tinguishable  interest  in  public  affairs.  He  sets  down 
in  the  same  entry  the  'aspects  of  the  weather  and  the 
probable  effects  of  such  and  such  measures  upon  the 
party  and  the  country.  He  records  the  -fact  that  he 
has  put  away  his  sleigh  for  the  season,  but  we  find  that 
he  has  not  put  away  his  uneasiness  about  the  currency. 
A  robin  who  steals  a  whole  spool  of  thread  for  his  nest, 
and  hopelessly  entangling  himself,  hangs  dangling  by 
the  neck  in  one  of  the  dooryard  trees,  does  not  affect 
him  more  than  the  spectacle  of  the  Democratic  pol 
iticians  who  promise  themselves  prosperity  on  an  excess 


108  THIRD   NOMINATION  FOR   GOVERNOR. 

of  greenbacks.  Nevertheless  the  domestic  and  agri 
cultural  interests  do  finally  prevail,  and  there  are  long 
spaces  in  the  diaries  where  politics  are  never  men 
tioned  —  where  the  thermometer  completely  displaces 
the  President. 

In  1875  Ohio  had  had  for  one  term  a  Democratic 
governor  for  the  first  time  in  nearly  twenty  years  — 
a  very  good  governor,  as  far  as  economical  administra 
tion  went,  and  a  very  bad  governor,  as  far  as  ideas  on 
the  currency  went :  William  Allen,  namely,  of  un 
tainted  personal  character,  but  politically  besotted  with 
seventy  years  of  unmitigated  Democracy.  He  was 
strong  with  his  party,  he  was  strong  with  the  people, 
and  how  to  get  rid  of  a  man  so  much  worse  than  any 
worse  man  was  a  vital  question  with  the  Republicans. 

Hayes  had  been  approached  in  his  philosophical  re 
tirement  at  Fremont,  but  though  flattered  with  the 
prospect  of  being  a  third  time  governor,  as  an  honor 
never  before  conferred  on  any  citizen  of  Ohio,  he  had 
thought  the  matter  over,  and  he  decidedly  refused  to 
let  his  name  go  before  the  convention.  It  became  day 
by  day  more  apparent  that  the  Republicans  could  suc 
ceed  with  no  other  name,  and  that  without  it  the  cause 
of  honest  money  and  of  public  self-respect  must  be  lost. 
Still  Hayes  refused,  and  upon  the  knowledge  of  his 
determined  refusal,  his  old  friend.  Judge  Taft,  of  Cin 
cinnati,  afterwards  Secretary  of  War,  allowed  himself 
to  be  proposed  in  the  convention.  The  convention 
nominated  Hayes,  and  then  made  his  nomination  unani 
mous.  A  dispatch  was  sent  to  Hayes,  who,  considering 


NO  DIVISION   OF   THE   SCHOOL   FUND.          109 

the  circumstances  under  which  his  friend  had  suffered 
himself  to  appear  as  a  candidate  for  nomination,  felt 
doubly  bound  to  decline.  He  stood  reading  over  the 
form  of  his  refusal  with  a  friend,  when  a  second  dis 
patch  arrived,  saying  that  Judge  Taft's  name  had  been 
withdrawn  by  Mr.  Taft,  his  son,  and  that  it  was  upon 
Mr.  Taft's  motion  that  Hayes's  nomination  had  been 
made  unanimous.  Hayes  tore  up  his  refusal  and  ac 
cepted  ;  and  now  ensued  the  famous  campaign  of  1875, 
which  made  Ohio  the  national  battle-ground,  where  / 
Hayes,  Schurz,  Sherman,  Woodford,  Morton,  Dawes, 
Oglesby,  Garfield,  Taft,  and  Windom  supported  the 
cause  of  good  sense  and  good  faith  in  currency  against 
the  inflationists,  who  are  now  the  friends  of  that  emi 
nent  and  disinterested  hard-money  man,  Mr.  Tilden. 

Another  very  important  element  in  the  canvass,  es 
pecially  urged  by  Hayes,  was  the  question  of  secular 
against  ecclesiastical  education.  The  Democratic  party, 
always  prompt  to  make  use  of  whatever  is  reactionary 
in  our  civilization,  had  already  in  its  brief  term  of  power 
in  Ohio  made  haste  to  truckle  to  the  priest-led  foreign 
ers,  who  demanded  a  division  of  the  school-fund.  Hayes 
insisted  upon  the  political  recognition  of  the  fact  known 
to  us  all,  that  our  system  of  free  secular  schools,  with 
all  its  errors  and  short-comings,  was  the  very  basis  of 
our  liberties,  and  that  any  division  of  the  school-fund 
meant  chaos  come  again.  He  thoroughly  aroused  peo 
ple  and  politicians  to  a  sense  of  this ;  the  liberal  Ger 
mans  and  the  freedom-loving  voters  of  all  the  churches 
made  common  cause  against  the  priests,  and  the  tri- 


110  STATE   DEBT   REDUCED. 

umph  that  ensued  was  owing,  far  more  than  has  been 
realized,  to  the  abhorrence  excited  by  the  attempt 
upon  the  public  schools.  If  any  reader  here  fancies 
himself  beguiled  with  a  travesty  of  Italian  story,  let 
him  turn  to  the  Catholic  journals  of  Ohio,  and  see  how 
bold  was  the  assault,  and  how  real  the  danger.  Of 
Catholics  as  religionists,  Hayes  is  no  enemy,-  but  he  is 
the  relentless  enemy  of  Catholics  as  Catholic  politicians, 
•just  as  he  would  be  the  enemy  of  Methodists  as  Metho 
dist  politicians. 

Hayes  has  now  been  some  five  years  governor  of 
Ohio,  and  though  often  thwarted  by  Democratic  leg 
islation,  has  succeeded  in  reducing  the  State  debt 
$2,773,406,  and  the  State  tax  from  3.5  mills  on  the 
dollar  to  2.9,  with  an  annual  saving  of  $914,593.  By 
continued  pressure  upon  the  legislature  he  reduced 
the  local  taxation  throughout  the  State  more  than 
$17,000,000,  and  through  his  influence  local  authorities 
were  forbidden  by  law  to  make  any  large  expenditure 
without  the  sanction  of  a  popular  vote — wherein  the 
people  of  Ohio  are  much  freer  than  those  of  Massa 
chusetts.  He  also  secured  the  passage  of  a  law  pro 
hibiting  municipalities  from  incurring  debts  beyond  the 
amounts  actually  in  their  treasuries.  These  measures 
he  has  urged  in  the  prime  of  a  life  whose  dearest  ac 
tion  was  spent  in  the  tented  field,  and  was  never  for  a 
moment  sullied  by  association  with  ring-thieves.  His 
principle  of  retrenchment  is  not  a  mere  twelvemonth 
old,  nor  his  patriotism  the  growth  of  the  years  since 
the  nation  was  made.  He  helped  to  make  it,  and  his 


A    PRACTICAL   CIVIL   SERVICE   REFORMER.         Ill 

public  economies  are  the  expression  of  a  life-long  pri 
vate  honesty. 

So,  also,  his  devotion  to  civil  service  reform  is  not 
merely  a  profitable  novelty.  Eight  years  ago  he  sup 
ported  Jenckes's  bill,  and  six  years  ago  he  recom 
mended  in  one  of  his  messages  the  amendment  of  the 
Ohio  constitution,  so  as  to  make  civil  service  reform  a 
part  of  the  organic  law.  He  did  more  ;  he  showed  his 
faith  by  his  works.  When  he  became  governor,  he  was 
importuned  by  old  and  dear  friends,  to  turn  out  the 
Democratic  State  librarian,  and  give  the  office,  one  of 
the  few  in  the  governor's  gift,  to  a  most  worthy  and 
competent  Republican.  He  refused. 

"  The  present  incumbent "  (he  wrote)  "  of  the  libra- 
rianship  is  a  faithful,  painstaking  old  gentleman  with  a 
family  of  invalid  girls  dependent  on  him.  His  courtesy 
and  evident  anxiety  to  accommodate  all  who  visit  the 
library  have  secured  him  the  indorsement  of  almost  all 
who  are  in  the  habit  of  using  the  books,  and  under  the 
circumstances  I  cannot  remove  him.  Old  associations, 
your  fitness,  and  claims  draw  me  the  other  way,  but 
you  see,  etc.,  etc.  Very  sincerely,  R.  B.  HAYES." 

Of  course  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  a  gov 
ernor  in  such  a  case  is  as  nothing  compared  to  the 
pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  the  President,  but  it  is 
the  same  in  kind  though  so  din°erentxin  quantity,  and  it 
would  be  very  interesting  indeed  to  know  whether  Mr. 
Tilden  can  point  to  a  single  Republican  whom  he  has 
kept  in  office  because  he  was  "  painstaking,  faithful,  and 
courteous." 


112  A   DEMOCRATIC   INVESTIGATION. 

Among  other  reforms,  Hayes  has  repeatedly  urged 
upon  the  legislature  the  adoption  of  some/form  of  mi 
nority  representation,  and  the  passage  of  registration 
laws  to  secure  the  purity  of  elections,  and  he  has  never 
ceased  to  urge  the  punishment  of  malfeasance  in  office. 
The  highest  testimony  to  the  purity  of  his  administra 
tion  is  to  be  found  on  the  lips  of  his  enemies  —  his 
political  enemies  ;  he  has  only  friends,  personally.  At 
the  end  of  his  second  term,  the  Democrats  appointed  a 
committee  to  investigate  the  administration  of  affairs 
under  him.  This  was  the  chairman's  report :  — 

"  The  special  committee  appointed  under  House  reso 
lution  No.  113  report  as  follows:  The  examination  has 
taken  a  wide  range.  One  hundred  and  nine  witnesses, 
residing  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  have  been  sub 
poenaed  and  examined  touching  public  contracts  and 
expenditures,  construction  of  public  buildings,  conduct 
of  public  institutions,  etc.  All  matters,  without  refer 
ence  to  the  date  of  their  occurrence,  coming  to  the  knowl 
edge  of  the  committee,  that  seemed  to  promise  any  prob 
ability  of  throwing  any  light  upon  the  subjects  of  inquiry, 
or  any  of  them,  have  been  diligently  inquired  into. 

"  Your  committee  take  pleasure  in  reporting  that,  so 
far  as  elective  officers  and  their  subordinates  are  con 
cerned,  very  commendable  honesty  and  fidelity  have 
been  observed,  and  that  in  the  official  conduct  of  no 
public  officer,  whether  elective  or  appointive,  has  cor 
ruption  been  disclosed." 

As  governor,  Hayes  has  been  tireless  in  the  promo 
tion  of  schemes  of  public  beneficence  and  advantage,  such 


PHILANTHROPIC   PROJECTS.  113 

as  the  removal  of  the  incurably  insane  from  the  jails 
and  poorhouses  to  fitting  quarters  in  the  State  asylums, 
the  establishment  of  a  reform  school  for  girls  and  a 
reform  farm  for  boys,  greater  humanity  as  well  as 
greater  economy  in  the  management  of  the  State  prison, 
and  above  all  the  founding  of  a  soldiers'  and  sailors' 
orphans'  home.  His  heart,  never  insensible  to  the 
claim  of  friendless  sorrow,  quick  to  the  misery  alike 
of  the  incurable  insane  and  of  the  curable  depraved, 
was  most  deeply  touched  by  the  condition  of  the  chil 
dren  of  those  who  died  for  freedom  and  nationality. 
"  During  the  war  for  the  Union,"  he  wrote  in  his  sec 
ond  annual  message,  "  the  people  of  this  State  ac 
knowledged  their  obligation  to  support  the  families  of 
their  absent  soldiers,  and  undertook  to  meet  it,  not  as  a 
charity,  but  as  a  partial  compensation  justly  due  for 
services  rendered.  The  nation  is  saved,  and  the  obli 
gations  to  care  for  the  orphans  of  the  men  who  died  to 
save  it  still  remain  to  be  fulfilled.  It  is  officially  esti 
mated  that  three  hundred  soldiers'  orphans,  during  the 
past  year,  have  been  inmates  of  the  county  infirmaries  of 
the  State.  It  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  the  directors 
of  county  infirmaries  that  those  institutions  are  wholly 
unfit  for  children  ;  that  in  a  majority  of  cases  they  are 
sadly  neglected,  and  that  even  in  the  best  infirmaries 
the  children  are  subject  to  the  worst  moral  influences. 
Left  by  the  death  of  their  patriotic  fathers  in  this  de 
plorable  condition,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  assume 
their  guardianship,  and  to  provide  support,  education, 
and  homes  to  all  who  need  them." 


114       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  OHIO. 

i 

Again,  in  his  second  inaugural  he  said :  "  Under  the 
providence  of  God  the  people  of  this  State  have  greatly 
prospered.  But  in  their  prosperity  they  cannot  forget 
'  him  who  hath  borne  the  battle,  nor  his  widow  nor  his 
orphan,'  or  the  thousands  of  other  sufferers  in  our  midst 
who  are  entitled  to  sympathy  and  relief.  They  are  to 
be  found  in  our  hospitals,  our  infirmaries,  our  asylums, 
our  prisons,  and  in  the  abodes  of  the  unfortunate  and 
the  erring.  The  Founder  of  our  religion,  whose  spirit 
should  pervade  our  laws,  and  animate  those  who  enact 
and  those  who  enforce  them,  by  his  teaching  and  his 
example  has  admonished  us  to  deal  with  all  the  victims 
of  adversity  as  the  children  of  our  common  Father." 

It  is  not  alone  in  the  gentle  and  sober  feeling  of 
passages  like  this  that  Hayes  reminds  us  of  Lincoln  ; 
much  also  in  the  essential  modesty,  the  quiet  firmness, 
the  unaggressive  self-respect  of  our  leader  recalls  the 
man  who  had  a  genius  for^being  singly  great. 

A  very  important  public  work  recommended  and 
urged  to  completion  by  Hayes  is  the  geological  sur 
vey  of  Ohio,  which  has  not  only  been  of  great  use  to 
science,  but  of  incalculable  material  advantage  to  Ohio, 
in  the  development  of  her  mineral  resources.  In  fine, 
every  project  for  the  enlightened  advancement  of  the 
public  interest,  morals,  or  taste,  during  the  years  since 
Hayes  has  been  governor,  has  had  him  for  its  author 
or  its  powerful  and  effective  friend.1 

1  For  a  full  account  of  Hayes's  gubernatorial  services  and  adminis 
trations,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the  conscientious  and  painstaking  chap 
ters  in  Mr.  J.  Q.  Howard's  Life  of  Hayes.  (Robert  Clarke  &  Co., 
Cincinnati.) 


FIRST   NAMED  FOR   PRESIDENT.  115 

But  we  can  no  longer  dwell  upon  this  period  of  his 
history,  for  we  now  approach  the  moment  when  from 
being  a  man  of  national  importance  he  became  also  a 
man  of  national  note.  He  had  not  been  elected  gov 
ernor  in  1875  before  he  began  to  be  President  in  Ohio. 
As  soon  as  his  election  was  known,  a  newspaper  of 
the  old  G-iddings  and  Garfield  district,  representing  the 
perennial  political  right-mindedness  of  the  "  Western 
Reserve,"  printed  his  name  as  candidate,  and  through 
out  the  whole  vast  State  the  prophetic  instinct  of  his 
supreme  fitness  began  to  possess  the  people,  though  at 
first  the  Republican  and  the  conditionally  Republican 
press  were  by  no  means  united  upon  him. 

As  for  himself,  he  seems  to  have  given  himself  no 
concern  about  the  presidency,  but  to  have  gone  qui 
etly  about  his  business  of  governor.  No  man  could 
hear  himself  much  talked  of  for  the  chief  place  in  a 
nation  like  this  without  feeling  some  share  of  the  pop 
ular  excitement,  but  no  man  was  less  capable  of  pushing 
himself  for  such  a  place  than  Hayes.  We  have  seen 
many  letters  of  his,  written  during  the  period  when 
the  movement  in  his  favor  was  gathering  strength  and 
form  (a  fact  which  every  Ohioan  felt  in  his  bones, 
however  insensible  the  osseous  structure  of  Eastern 
Republicans  remained),  and  they  all  point  to  the  fact 
that,  while  he  was  not  indifferent  to  it,  he  was  firmly 
resolved  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

In  one  of  these  letters,  shown  us  by  his  correspond 
ent,  he  wrote:  "I  am  not  pushing,  directly  or  indi 
rectly.  It  is  not  likely  that  I  shall.  If  the  sky  falls 


116  A   MANLY    EXPRESSION. 

we  shall  all  catch  larks.  On  the  topics  you  name,  a 
busy  seeker  after  truth  would  find  my  views  in  speeches 
and  messages,  but  I  shall  not  help  him  to  find  them.  I 
appreciate  your  motives  and  your  friendship.  But  it 
is  not  the  thing  for  you  or  me  to  enroll  ourselves  in 
the  great  army  of  office-seekers.  Let  the  currents 
alone." 

This  was  the  tenor  of  all  his  expressions.  From  his 
diary  we  permit  ourselves  a  single  paragraph,  which 
not  only  shows  his  mind  in  March  last,  but  also  shows 
the  man  as  he  has  been  all  his  life:  tranquilly  self- 
reliant,  high-purposed,  and  resolute  never  to  act  from 
personal  ambition.  "  With  so  general  an  impression  in 
my  favor  in  Ohio,  and  a  fair  degree  of  assent  elsewhere, 
especially  in  States  largely  settled  by  Ohio  people,  1 
have  supposed  that  it  was  possible  I  might  be  nomi 
nated.  But  with  no  opportunity  and  no  desire  to  make 
combinations  or  to  lay  wires,  I  have  not  thought  my 
chances  worth  much  consideration.  I  feel  less  diffidence 
in  thinking  of  this  subject  than  perhaps  I  ought.  It 
seems  to  me  that  good  purposes,  and  the  judgment,  ex 
perience  and  firmness  I  possess  would  enable  me  to 
execute  the  duties  of  the  office  well.  I  do  not  feel  the 
least  fear  that  I  should  fail !  " 

After  the  Ohio  State  convention  met  and  instructed 
its  delegates  to  vote  for  Hayes  in  the  national  conven 
tion,  his  attitude  changed  only  so  far  as  was  involved  in 
a  feeling  of  allegiance  to  his  friends,  and  a  sense  of  his 
obligation  not  to  embarrass  their  efforts  in  his  behalf. 
This  is  not  the  time,  and  this  is  not  the  place  to  say 


THE   CINCINNATI   CONVENTION.  117 

whom  Hayes  expected  to  be  nominated  at  Cincinnati, 
but  we  know  upon  the  authority  of  those  constantly 
about  him  at  the  time  that  he  did  not  at  all  expect  the 
nomination  for  himself  until  the  sixth  ballot,  and  then 
when  the  result  came  on  the  seventh  ballot  he  could 
scarcely  accept  the  fact  a's  true. 

We  need  not  weary  the  reader  with  the  twice-told  tale 
of  the  convention's  proceedings,  but  we  cannot  deny 
ourselves  the  pleasure  of  reproducing  entire  in  this 
place  the  exquisitely  fitting  speech  in  which  ex-Gov 
ernor  Noyes  of  Ohio  presented  Hayes's  name. 

GENTLEMEN  :  On  behalf  of  the  forty-four  delegates 
from  Ohio,  representing  the  entire  Republican  party  of 
Ohio,  I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  this  convention 
the  name  of  a  gentleman  well  known  and  favorably 
known  throughout  the  country ;  one  held  in  high  re 
spect,  and  much  beloved  by  the  people  of  Ohio ;  a  man 
who,  during  the  dark  and  stormy  days  of  the  rebellion, 
when  those  who  are  invincible  in  peace  and  invisible  in 
battle  were  uttering  brave  words  to  cheer  their  neigh 
bors  on,  himself,  in  the  fore-front  of  battle,  followed 
his  leaders  and  his  flag  until  the  authority  of  our  gov 
ernment  was  established  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf, 
and  from  the  river  round  to  the  sea  ;  a  man  who  has 
the  rare  good  fortune  since  the  war  was  over  to  be 
twice  elected  to  Congress  from  the  district  where  he 
resided,  and  subsequently  the  rarer  fortune  of  beating 
successively  for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  peo 
ple  of  Ohio,  Allen  G.  Thurman,  George  H.  Pendleton, 


118  EX-GOVERNOR  NOYES'S   SPEECH. 

and  William  Allen.  He  is  a  gentleman  who  has  some 
how  fallen  into  the  habit  of  defeating  Democratic  aspi 
rants  for  the  presidency,  and  we  in  Ohio  all  have  a 
notion  that  from  long  experience  he  will  be  able  to  do 
it  again.  In  presenting  the  name  of  Governor  Hayes, 
permit  me  to  say  we  wage  no  war  upon  the  distin 
guished  gentlemen  whose  names  have  been  mentioned 
here  to-day.  They  have  rendered  great  service  to 
their  country,  which  entitles  them  to  our  respect  and 
to  our  gratitude.  I  have  no  word  to  utter  against 
them.  I  only  wish  to  say  that  General  Hayes  is  the 
peer  of  these  gentlemen  in  integrity,  in  character,  in 
ability.  They  appear  as  equals  in  all  the  great  quali 
ties  which  fit  men  for  the  highest  positions  whicb  the 
American  people  can  give  them.  Governor  Hayes  is 
honest ;  he  is  brave ;  he  is  unpretending  ;  he  is  wise, 
sagacious,  a  scholar,  and  a  gentleman.  Enjoying  an 
independent  fortune,  the  simplicity  of  his  private  life, 
his  modesty  of  bearing,  is  a  standing  rebuke  to  the  ex 
travagance —  the  reckless  extravagance  —  which  leads 
to  corruption  in  public  and  in  private  places. 

Remember  now,  delegates  to  the  convention,  that 
a  responsible  duty  rests  upon  you.  You  can  be  gov 
erned  by  no  wild  impulse.  You  can  run  no  fearful 
risks  in  this  campaign.  You  must,  if  you  would  suc 
ceed,  nominate  a  candidate  here  who  will  not  only  carry 
the  old,  strong  Republican  States,  but  who  will  carry 
Indiana,  Ohio,  and  New  York,  as  well  as  other  doubt 
ful  States.  We  care  not  who  the  man  shall  be,  other 
than  our  own  candidate.  Whoever  you  nominate,  men 


ADVANTAGES   AS   A   CANDIDATE.  119 

of  the  convention,  shall  receive  our  heartiest  and  most 
earnest  efforts  for  their  success.  But  we  beg  to  sub 
mit  that  in  Governor  Hayes  you  have  those  qualities 
which  are  calculated  best  to  compromise  all  difficulties, 
and  to  soften  all  antagonisms.  He  has  no  personal  ene 
mies.  His  private  life  is  so  pure  that  no  man  has  ever 
dared  assail  it.  His  public  acts  throughout  all  these 
years  have  been  above  suspicion,  even.  I  ask  you  then 
if,  in  the  lack  of  these  antagonisms  and  with  all  of  these 
good  qualities,  living  in  a  State  which  holds  its  election 
in  October,  the  result  of  which  will  be  decisive,  it  may 
be,  of  the  presidential  campaign,  it  is  not  worth  while 
to  see  to  it  that  a  candidate  is  nominated  against  whom 
nothing  can  be  sard,  and  who  is  sure  to  succeed  in  the 
campaign  ? 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  say  that,  if  the  wisdom 
of  this  convention  shall  decide  at  last  that  Governor 
Hayes's  nomination  is  safest  and  is  best,  that  decision 
will  meet  with  such  responsive  enthusiasm  here  in  Ohio 
as  will  insure  Republican  success  at  home,  and  which 
will  be  so  far-reaching  and  wide-spreading  as  to  make 
success  almost  certain  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa 
cific. 

With  his  name  thus  presented,  and  with  the  forty- 
four  Ohio  delegates  faithfully,  ballot  after  ballot,  throw 
ing  in  his  favor  the  weight  of  what  was  best  in  the 
sentiment  of  a  State  so  eminent  in  war,  so  wise  in  the 
uses  of  peace,  his  final  success  was,  in  the  opinion  of  those 
skilled  in  judging  such  matters,  only  a  question  of  time. 


120  NOMINATED  FOB  THE   PRESIDENCY. 

This  history  is  by  no  means  too  dignified  to  tell  how 
the  news  came  to  the  lady  who,  we  hope,  is  soon  to 
renew  the  best  traditions  of  the  White  House.  She 
was  absent  from  home  on  a  visit  of  mercy  at  one  of  th,e 
State  asylums,  and  a  carriage  was  sent  to  recall  her. 
The  driver  was  charged  with  no  message  except  that 
she  was  to  return  home  at  once,  and  she  drove  back 
in  alarmed  expectation  of  some  domestic  calamity, 
merely  to  find  that  her  husband  had  been  nominated 
for  the  presidency. 


CHAPTER  XL 

HAYES'S  POLITICAL  POSITIONS  AND  OPINIONS. 

THE  sum  of  all  these  positions  and  opinions  is  the 
now  famous  letter  of  acceptance,  which  the  whole  party 
joyfully  ratified  and  made  its  political  creed.  It  shall  be 
given  in  full,  and  then  we  shall  show  how  it  is  merely 
the  final  expression  of  principles  and  ideas  long  since 
expressed  by  its  author. 

THE    LETTER    OF    ACCEPTANCE. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  July  8,  1876. 
Hon.  Edward  McPherson,  Hon.  Wm.  A.  Howard,  Hon. 

Joseph  H.  Rainey,  and    others,   Committee    of    the 

Republican  National  Convention. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  In  reply  to  your  official  communica 
tion  of  June  17th,  by  which  I  am  informed  of  my  nomi 
nation  for  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States 
by  the  Republican  National  Convention  at  Cincinnati,  I 
accept  the  nomination  with  gratitude,  hoping  that  under 
Providence  I  shall  be  able,  if  elected,  to  execute  the 
duties  of  the  high  office  as  a  trust  for  the  benefit  of  all 
the  people. 

I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  enter  upon  any 
extended  examination  of  the  declaration  of  principles 


122  LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE. 

made  by  the  convention.  The  resolutions  are  in  accord 
with  my  views,  and  I  heartily  concur  in  the  principles 
they  announce.  In  several  of  the  resolutions,  however, 
questions  are  considered  which  are  of  such  importance 
that  I  deem  it  proper  to  briefly  express  my  convictions 
in  regard  to  them. 

The  fifth  resolution  adopted  by  the  convention  is  of 
paramount  interest.  More  than  forty  years  ago,  a  sys 
tem  of  making  appointments  to  office  grew  up,  based 
upon  the  maxim,  "  To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils." 
The  old  rule  —  the  true  rule  —  that  honesty,  capacity, 
and  fidelity  constitute  the  only  real  qualifications  for 
office,  and  that  there  is  no  other  claim,  "gave  place  to 
the  idea  that  party  services  were  to  be  chiefly  considered. 
All  parties,  in  practice,  have  adopted  this  system.  It 
has  been  essentially  modified  since  its  first  introduction. 
It  has  not,  however,  been  improved. 

At  first,  the  President,  either  directly  or  through  the 
heads  of  departments,  made  all  the  appointments.  But 
gradually  the  appointing  power,  in  many  cases,  passed 
into  the  control  of  members  of  Congress.  The  offices, 
in  these  cases,  have  become  not  merely  rewards  for 
party  services,  but  rewards  for  services  to  party  leaders. 
This  system  destroys  the  independence  of  the  separate 
departments  of  the  government;  it  tends  directly  to  ex 
tras  ugance  and  official  incapacity  ;  it  is  a  temptation  to 
dishonesty  ;  it  hinders  and  impairs  that  careful  super 
vision  and  strict  accountability  by  which  alone  faithful 
and  efficient  public  service  can  be  secured;  it  obstructs 
the  prompt  removal  and  sure  punishment  of  the  un- 


CIVIL   SERVICE   REFORM.  123 

worthy.  In  every  way  it  degrades  the  civil  service  and 
the  character  of  the  government.  It  is  felt,  I  am  confi 
dent,  by  a  large  majority  of  the  members  of  Congress, 
to  be  an  intolerable  burden,  and  an  unwarrantable 
hindrance  to  the  proper  discharge  of  their  legitimate 
duties.  It  ought  to  be  abolished.  The  reform  should 
be  thorough,  radical,  and  complete.  — 

We  should  return  to  the  principles  and  practice  of 
the  founders  of  the  government,  supplying  by  legisla 
tion,  when  needed,  that  which  was  formerly  established 
custom.  They  neither  expected  nor  desired  from  the 
public  officer  any  partisan  service.  They  meant  that 
public  officers  should  owe  their  whole  service  to  the 
government  and  to  the  people.  They  meant  that  the 
officer  should  be  secure  in  his  tenure  as  long  as  his  per 
sonal  character  remained  untarnished  and  the  perform 
ance  of  his  duties  satisfactory.  If  elected,  I  shall  con 
duct  the  administration  of  the  government  upon  these 
principles ;  and  all  constitutional  powers  vested  in  the 
executive  will  be  employed  to  establish  this  reform. 

The  declaration  of  principles  by  the  Cincinnati  con 
vention  makes  no  announcement  in  favor  of  a  single 
presidential  term.  I  do  not  assume  to  add  to  that 
declaration ;  but,  believing  that  the  restoration  of  the 
civil  service  to  the  system  established  by  Washington 
and  followed  by  the  early  presidents  can  be  best  accom 
plished  by  an  executive  who  is  under  no  temptation  to 
use  the  patronage  of  his  office  to  promote  his  own  re 
election,  I  desire  to  perform  what  I  regard  as  a  duty,  in 
stating  now  my  inflexible  purpose,  if  elected,  not  to  be 
a  candidate  for  election  to  a  second  term. 


124         THE  CURRENCY  QUESTION. 

On  the  currency  question  I  have  frequently  ex 
pressed  my  views  in  public,  and  I  stand  by  my  record 
on  this  subject.  I  regard  all  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  relating  to  the  payment  of  the  public  indebted 
ness,  the  legal  tender  notes  included,  as  constituting  a 
pledge  and  moral  obligation  of  the  government,  which 
must  in  good  faith  be  kept.  It  is  my  conviction  that 
the  feeling  of  unce~  ainty  inseparable  from  an  irre 
deemable  paper  currency,  with  its  fluctuations  of  values, 
is  one  of  the  great  obstacles  to  a  revival  of  confidence 
and  business,  and  to  a  return  of  prosperity.  That  un 
certainty  can  be  ended  in  but  one  way  —  the  resump 
tion  of  specie  payments ;  but  the  longer  the  instability 
connected  with  our  present  money  system  is  permitted 
to  continue,  the  greater  will  be  the  injury  inflicted 
upon  our  economical  interests  and  all  classes  of  so 
ciety. 

If  elected,  I  shall  approve  every  appropriate  measure 
to  accomplish  the  desired  end,  and  shall  oppose  any 
step  backward. 

The  resolution  with  respect  to  the  public  school 
system  is  one  which  should  receive  the  hearty  support 
of  the  American  people.  Agitation  upon  this  subject 
is  to  be  apprehended,  until,  by  constitutional  amend 
ment,  the  schools  are  placed  beyond  all  danger  of  sec 
tarian  control  or  interference.  The  Republican  party 
is  pledged  to  secure  such  an  amendment. 

The  resolution  of  the  convention  on  the  subject  of 
the  permanent  pacification  of  the  country,  and  the  com 
plete  protection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the  free  enjoyment 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  SOUTH.      125 

of  all  their  constitutional  rights,  is  timely  and  of  great 
importance.  The  condition  of  the  Southern  States 
attracts  the  attention  and  commands  the  sympathy  of 
the  people  of  the  whole  Union.  In  their  progressive 
recovery  from  the  effects  of  the  war,  their  first  neces 
sity  is  an  intelligent  and  honest  administration  of  gov 
ernment,  which  will  protect  all  classes  of  citizens  in  all 
their  political  and  private  rights.  What  the  South  most 
needs  is  peace,  and  peace  depends  upon  the  suprem 
acy  of  law.  There  can  be  no  enduring  peace  if  the 
constitutional  rights  of  any  portion  of  the  people  are 
habitually  disregarded.  A  division  of  political  parties 
resting  merely  upon  distinctions  of  race,  or  upon  sec 
tional  lines,  is  always  unfortunate,  and  may  be  disas 
trous.  The  welfare  of  the  South,  alike  with  that  of 
every  other  part  of  the  country,  depends  upon  the  at 
tractions  it  can  offer  to  labor,  to  immigration,  and  to 
capital.  But  laborers  will  not  go,  and  capital  will  not 
be  ventured,  where  the  constitution  and  the  laws  are 
set  at  defiance,  and  distraction,  apprehension,  and  alarm 
take  the  place  of  peace-loving  and  law-abiding  social 
life.  All  parts  of  the  constitution  are  sacred,  and  must 
be  sacredly  observed,  the  parts  that  are  new  no  less 
than  the  parts  that  are  old.  The  moral  and  material 
prosperity  of  the  Southern  States  can  be  most  effect 
ively  advanced  by  a  hearty  and  generous  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  all  by  all,  a  recognition  without  reserve 
or  exception. 

With  such  a  recognition  fully  accorded,  it  will  be 
practicable  to  promote,  by  the  influence  of  all  legiti- 


12G  THE    ISSUES   OF  THE   HOUR. 

mate  agencies  of  the  general  government,  the  efforts  of 
the  people  of  those  States  to  obtain  for  themselves  the 
blessings  of  honest  and  capable  local  government. 

If  elected,  I  shall  consider  it  not  only  my  duty,  but 
it  will  be  my  ardent  desire,  to  labor  for  the  attain 
ment  of  this  end. 

Let  me  assure  my  countrymen  of  the  Southern  States 
that  if  I  shall  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  organizing 
an  administration,  it  will  be  one  which  will  regard  and 
cherish  their  truest  interests  —  the  interests  of  the 
white  and  of  the  colored  people  both,  and  equally ;  and 
which  will  put  forth  its  best  efforts  in  behalf  of  a  civil 
policy  which  will  wipe  out  forever  the  distinction  be 
tween  North  and  South  in  our  common  country. 

With  a  civil  service  organized  upon  a  system  which 
will  secure  purity,  experience,  efficiency,  and  economy; 
with  a  strict  regard  for  the  public  welfare,  solely,  in 
appointments ;  with  the  speedy,  thorough,  and  unspar 
ing  prosecution  and  punishment  of  all  public  officers 
who  betray  official  trusts ;  with  a  sound  currency  ;  with 
education  unsectarian  and  free  to  all ;  with  simplicity 
and  frugality  in  public  and  private  affairs,  and  with  a 
fraternal  spirit  of  harmony  pervading  the  people  of  all 
sections  and  classes,  we  may  reasonably  hope  that  the 
second  century  of  our  existence  as  a  nation  will,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  be  preeminent  as  an  era  of  good  feel 
ing,  and  a  period  of  progress,  prosperity,  and  happiness. 

Very  respectfully,        Your  fellow-citizen, 

R.  B.  HAYES. 


OPPOSED   TO   THE   SPOILS   DOCTPJNE.  127 


CIVIL    SERVICE    REFORM. 

In  this  letter  the  first  and  most  important  matter 
touched  is  that  of  the  civil  service,  in  which,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  Hayes  had  long  before  been  a  prac 
tical  reformer.  He  had  also  constantly  urged  the  re 
form  in  private  and  in  public,  officially  and  personally. 
Jenckes's  and  Trumbull's  bills  had  received  his  vote  and 
hearty  approval,  and  to  a  friend  he  had  written  early 
in  March,  1870,  "  I  agree  with  you  perfectly  in  the 
spoils  doctrine.  This  you  would  know  if  you  had  read 
my  last  inaugural.  I  am  glad  you  do  not  bore  your 
self  with  such  reading  generally,  but  you  are  in  for  it 
now,  and  I  shall  send  you  a  copy."  "  For  many 
years,"  he  said,  addressing  a  legislature  of  that  Demo 
cratic  party  which  invented  the  present  infamous  sys 
tem,  "  political  influence  and  political  services  have 
been  essential  qualifications  for  employment  in  the  civil 
service,  whether  State  or  national.  As  a  general  rule, 
such  employments  are  regarded  as  terminating  with  the 
defeat  of  the  political  party  under  which  they  began. 
All  political  parties  have  adopted  this  rule.  In  many 
offices  the  highest  qualifications  are  only  obtained  by 
experience.  Such  are  the  positions  of  the  warden  of 
the  penitentiary  and  his  subordinates,  and  the  superin 
tendents  of  asylums  and  reformatories  and  their  assist 
ants.  But  the  rule  is  applied  to  these  as  well  as  to 
other  offices  and  employments.  A  change  in  the  polit 
ical  character  of  the  executive  and  legislative  branches 
of  the  government  is  followed  by  a  change  of  the  offi- 


128         CIVIL   SERVICE   REFORM  PRACTICABLE. 

cers  and  employees  in  all  of  the  departments  and  institu 
tions  of  the  State.  Efficiency  and  fidelity  to  duty  do 
not  prolong  the  employment ;  unfitness  and  neglect  of 
duty  do  not  always  shorten  it.  The  evils  of  this  sys 
tem  in  State  aifairs  are,  perhaps,  of  small  moment  com 
pared  with  those  which  prevail  under  the  same  system 
in  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the  national  gov 
ernment.  But  at  no  distant  day  they  are  likely  to 
become  serious,  even  in  the  administration  of  State 
affairs.  The  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  va 
rious  offices  and  institutions  of  the  State  must  increase, 
under  the  most  economical  management,  in  equal  ratio 
with  the  growth  of  our  population  and  business. 

"  A  radical  reform  in  the  civil  service  of  the  general 
government  has  been  proposed.  The  plan  is  to  make 
qualifications,  and  not  political  services  and  influence, 
the  chief  test  in  determining  appointments,  and  to  give 
subordinates  in  the  civil  service  the  same  permanency 
of  place  which  is  enjoyed  by  officers  of  the  army  and 
navy.  The  introduction  of  this  reform  will  be  at 
tended  with  some  difficulties.  But  in  revising  our 
State  constitution,  if  this  object  is  kept  constantly  in 
view,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  it  can  be  suc 
cessfully  accomplished."  ££"]( 

In  his  annual  message  of  January,  1871,  he  recurred 
to  the  subject  of  civil  service,  and  urged  its  reforma 
tion  through  the  prompt  punishment  of  frauds.  "  What 
the  public  welfare  demands,"  he  said,  "  is  a  practical 
measure  which  will  provide  for  a  thorough  and  impar 
tial  investigation  in  every  case  of  suspected  neglect, 


A   PLAN   SUGGESTED.  129 

abuse,  or  fraud.  Such  an  investigation,  to  be  effective, 
must  be  made  by  an  authority  independent,  if  possible, 
of  all  local  influences.  When  abuses  are  discovered, 
the  prosecution  and  punishment  of  offenders  ought  to 
follow.  But  even  if  prosecutions  fail  in  cases  of  full 
exposure,  public  opinion  almost  always  accomplishes  the 
object  desired.  A  thorough  investigation  of  official  cor 
ruption  and  criminality  leads  with  great  certainty  to 
the  needed  reform.  Publicity  is  a  great  corrector  of 
official  abuses.  Let  it  therefore  be  made  the  duty  of 
the  governor,  on  satisfactory  information  that  the  pub 
lic  good  requires  an  investigation  of  the  affairs  of  any 
public  office  or  the  conduct  of  any  public  officer, 
whether  State  or  local,  to  appoint  one  or  more  citizens 
who  shall  have  ample  powers  to  make  such  investi 
gation.  If  by  the  investigation  violations  of  law  are 
discovered,  the  governor  should  be  authorized,  in  his 
discretion,  to  notify  the  attorney-general,  whose  duty  it 
should  be,  on  such  notice,  to  prosecute  the  offenders. 
The  constitution  makes  it  the  duty  of  the  governor  to 
*  see  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed.'  Some  such 
measure  as  the  one  here  recommended  is  necessary  to 
give  force  and  effect  to  this  constitutional  provision." 

Again,  in  a  speech  which  he  made  in  1872,  he  advo 
cated  a  complete  reform  in  almost  the  exact  terms  of 
the  letter  of  acceptance. 

"  There  are,"  he  declared,  "  several  questions  relating 
to  the  present  and  the  future  which  merit  the  attention 
of  the  people.  Among  the  most  interesting  of  these 
is  the  question  of  civil  service  reform. 


130  GROWTH   OF   THE   SPOILS   SYSTEM. 

"  About  forty  years  ago  a  system  of  making  appoint 
ments  to  office  grew  up,  based  on  the  maxim,  *  To  the 
victors  belong  the  spoils.'  The  old  rule  —  the  true 
rule  —  that  honesty,  capacity,  and  fidelity  constitute  the 
highest  claim  to  office,  gave  place  to  the  idea  that  par 
tisan  services  were  to  be  chiefly  considered.  All  par 
ties  in  practice  have  adopted  this  system.  Since  its 
first  introduction  it  has  been  materially  modified.  At 
first  the  President,  either  directly  or  through  the  heads 
of  departments,  made  all  appointments.  Gradually,  by 
usage,  the  appointing  power  in  many  cases  was  trans 
ferred  to  members  of  Congress — to  senators  and  rep 
resentatives.  The  offices  in  these  cases  have  become 
not  so  much  rewards  for  party  services  as  rewards  for 
personal  services  in  nominating  and  electing  senators 
and  representatives.  What  patronage  the  President 
and  his  cabinet  retain,  and  what  offices  congressmen  are 
by  usage  entitled  to  fill  is  not  definitely  settled.  A 
congressman  who  maintains  good  relations  with  the  ex 
ecutive  usually  receives  a  larger  share  of  patronage 
than  one  who  is  independent.  The  system  is  a  bad 
one.  It  destroys  the  independence  of  the  separate  de 
partments  of  the  government,  and  it  degrades  the  civil 
service.  It  ought  to  be  abolished.  General  Grant  has 
again  and  again  explicitly  recommended  reform.  A 
majority  of  Congress  has  been  unable  to  agree  upon 
any  important  measure.  Doubtless  the  bills  which 
have  been  introduced  contain  objectionable  features. 
But  the  work  should  be  begun.  Let  the  best  obtain 
able  bill  be  passed,  and  experience  will  show  what 


AN  EARLY   FRIEND    OF   REFORM.  131 

amendments  are  required.  I  would  support  either 
Senator  TrumbulPs  bill  or  Mr.  Jenckes's  bill,  if  nothing 
better  were  proposed.  The  admirable  speeches  on  this 
subject  by  the  representative  of  the  first  district,  the 
Hon.  Aaron  F.  Perry,  contain  the  best  exposition  I 
have  seen  of  sound  doctrine  on  this  question,  and  I 
trust  the  day  is  not  distant  when  the  principles  which 
he  advocates  will  be  embodied  in  practical  measures  of 
legislation.  We  ought  to  have  a  reform  of  the  system 
of  appointments  to  the  civil  service,  thorough,  radical, 
and  complete." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  expatiate  on  these  positions,  so 
distinct  and  so  explicit  that  there  is  no  mistaking  them. 
Taken  in  connection  with  the  expressions  of  the  letter 
of  acceptance,  and  the  facts  of  Hayes's  gubernatorial 
administrations,  they  show  that  civil  service  reform  has 
been  his  settled  conviction  and  his  practice  for  the  last 
eight  years.  He  was  one  of  the  very  first  friends  of 
the  reform,  and  it  is  simply  absurd  to  compare  with  him 
on  this  ground  a  man  who  was  the  political  ally  of 
public  plunderers  when  Hayes  was  urging  administra- 
tional  purity  and  efficiency  by  precept  and  example. 

CURRENCY. 

In  regard  to  honest  money,  —  the  duty  of  the  gov 
ernment  to  keep  its  promises  to  pay  to  the  last  mill,  — 
Hayes  now  stands  where  he  has  stood  ever  since  his 
political  thinking  began,  ever  since  his  boyhood.  For 
the  last  year,  his  success  has  been  the  expression  of  the 
people's  will  in  this  direction  ;  he  is,  in  fact,  the  most 


132  THE   CURRENCY    QUESTION. 

eminent  exemplification  of  the  public  sense  of  honor 
on  this  point.  No  other  man  represents  as  he  does  at 
this  moment  the  popular  idea  that  just  debts  should  be 
fully  paid,  and  in  nowise  shirked  or  evaded.  His 
speeches  and  letters  and  private  diaries  so  abound  with 
opinions  to  this  effect,  that  it  is  hard  to  choose  from 
them. 

In  a  speech  delivered  at  Glendale  in  1872.  from 
which  we  have  already  given  some  passages  on  civil 
service  reform,  he  handled  the  no  less  vital  question 
with  as  frank  a  touch.  "  We  want  a  financial  policy  so 
honest  that  there  can  be  no  stain  on  the  national  honor 
and  no  taint  on  the  national  credit ;  so  stable  that 
labor  and  capital  and  legitimate  business  of  every  sort 
can  confidently  count  upon  what  it  will  be  the  next 
week,  the  next  month,  and  the  next  year.  We  want 
the  burdens  of  taxation  so  justly  distributed  that  they 
will  bear  equally  upon  all  classes  of  citizens  in  propor 
tion  to  their  ability  to  sustain  them.  We  want  our 
currency  gradually  to  appreciate  until,  without  financial 
shock  or  any  sudden  shrinkage  of  values,  but  in  the 
natural  course  of  trade,  it  shall  reach  the  uniform  and 
permanent  value  of  gold.  With  lasting  peace  assured, 
and  a  sound  financial  condition  established,  the  United 
States  and  all  of  her  citizens  may  reasonably  expect  to 
enjoy  a  measure  of  prosperity  without  a  parallel  in  the 
world's  history." 

He  was  not  only  always  right  in  this  matter,  but  he 
always  felt  sure  of  the  people's  good  sense  and  honesty, 
and  he  entered  upon  the  famous  campaign  of  1875  in 


SPEECH   AT   MARION.  133 

the  full  confidence  that  "  if  the  party  in  power  were  op 
posed  to  a  sound,  safe,  stable  currency  ....  the  peo 
ple  would  make  a  change."  He  conducted  the  canvass 
upon  the  principle  that  there  was  a  sense  of  justice  and 
of  self-respect  in  the  popular  heart  which  would  finally 
respond  to  his  own,  and  while  his  opponents  appealed 
to  the  people's  self-interest  and  all  the  sordid  motives 
that  prompt  human  nature,  he  steadily  addressed  their 
reason  and  their  consciences. 

A  few  passages  from  one  of  the  many  speeches  he 
made  on  the  currency  question  will  serve  to  show  the 
simple,  direct,  quiet  fashion  in  which  he  dealt  with 
hearers  whom  he  assumed  to  be  equally  willing  with 
himself  to  think  and  to  do  right.  The  speech  in  ques 
tion  was  made  at  Marion,  Ohio,  on  the  31st  of  last 
July.  "  The  most  important  part,"  he  said,  "  in  fact 
the  only  important  part  of  the  Democratic  platform  in 
Ohio  this  year,  which  receives  or  deserves  much  atten 
tion,  is  that  in  which  is  proclaimed  a  radical  departure 
on  the  Subject  of  money  from  the  teachings  of  all  of 
the  Democratic  fathers.  This  Ohio  Democratic  doc 
trine  inculcates  the  abandonment  of  gold  and  silver  as 
a  standard  of  value.  Hereafter  gold  and  silver  are  to 
be  used,  as  money  only  '  where  respect  for  the  obliga 
tion  of  contracts  requires  payment  in  coin.'  The  only 
currency  for  the  people  is  to  be  paper  money,  issued 
directly  by  the  general  government,  '  its  volume  to  be 
made  and  kept  equal  to  the  wants  of  trade,'  and  with 
no  provision  whatever  for  its  redemption  in  coin.  The 
Democratic  candidate  for  lieutenant-governor,  who 


184  EVILS   OF  AN   INFLATED   CURRENCY. 

opened  the  canvass  for  his  party,  states  the  money  issue 
substantially  as  I  have.  General  Gary,  in  his  Barnes- 
ville  speech,  says :  — 

" '  Gold  and  silver,  when  used  as  money,  are  redeem 
able  in  any  property  there  is  for  sale  in  the  nation, 
will  pay  taxes  for  any  debt,  public  or  private.  This 
alone  gives  them  their  money  value.  If  you  had  a 
hundred  gold  eagles,  and  you  could  not  exchange  them 
for  the  necessaries  of  life,  they  would  be  trash,  and  you 
would  be  glad  to  exchange  them  for  greenbacks  or  any 
thing  else  that  you  could  use  to  purchase  what  you 
require.  With  an  absolute  paper  money,  stamped  by 
the  government  and  made  a  legal  tender  for  all  pur 
poses,  its  functions  as  money  are  as  perfect  as  gold  or 
silver  can  be  ! ' 

"This  is  the  financial  scheme  which  the  Democratic 
party  asks  the  people  of  Ohio  to  approve  at  the  elec 
tion  in  October.  The  Republicans  accept  the  issue. 
Whether  considered  as  a  permanent  policy  or  as  an  ex 
pedient  to  mitigate  present  evils,  we  are  opposed  to  it. 
It  is  without  warrant  in  the  constitution,  and  it  violates 
all  sound  financial  principles. 

"  The  objections  to  an  inflated  and  irredeemable 
paper  currency  are  so  many  that  I  do  not  attempt  to 
state  them  all.  They  are  so  obvious  and  so  familiar 
that  I  need  not  elaborately  present  or  argue  them.  All 
of  the  mischief  which  commonly  follows  inflated  and 
inconvertible  paper  money  may  be  expected  from  this 
plan,  and  in  addition  it  has  very  dangerous  tendencies, 
\vhirh  are  peculiarly  its  own.  An  irredeemable  and  in- 


NO  LIMIT   TO  ITS   VOLUME.  135 

flated  paper  currency  promotes  speculation  and  extrava 
gance,  and  at  the  same  time  discourages  legitimate  busi 
ness,  honest  labor,  and  economy.  It  dries  up  the  true 
sources  of  individual  and  public  prosperity.  Over-trad 
ing  and  fast  living  always  go  with  it.  It  stimulates  the 
desire  to  incur  debt ;  it  causes  high  rates  of  interest ; 
it  increases  importations  from  abroad  ;  it  has  no  fixed 
value ;  it  is  liable  to  frequent  and  great  fluctuations, 
thereby  rendering  every  pecuniary  engagement  pre 
carious,  and  disturbing  all  existing  contracts  and  expec 
tations.  It  is  the  parent  of  panics.  Every  period  of 
inflation  is  followed  by  a  loss  of  confidence,  a  shrink 
age  of  values,  depression  of  business,  panics,  lack  of 
employment,  and  widespread  disaster  and  distress.  The 
heaviest  part  of  the  calamity  falls  on  those  least  able  to 
bear  it.  The  wholesale  dealer,  the  middle-man,  and 
the  retailer  always  endeavor  to  cover  the  risks  of  the 
fickle  standard  of  value  by  raising  their  prices.  But 
the  men  of  small  means  and  the  laborer  are  thrown  out 
of  employment,  and  want  and  suffering  are  liable  soon 
to  follow. 

"  When  government  enters  upon  the  experiment  of 
issuing  irredeemable  paper  money,  there  can  be  no 
fixed  limit  to  its  volume.  The  amount  will  depend  on 
the  interest  of  leading  politicians,  on  their  whims,  and 
on  the  excitement  of  the  hour.  It  affords  such  facility 
for  contracting  debt  that  extravagant  and  corrupt  gov 
ernment  expenditure  are  the  sure  result.  Under  the 
name  of  public  improvements  the  wildest  enterprises, 
contrived  for  private  gain,  are  undertaken.  Indefinite 


136      THE  GOVERNMENT'S  PLEDGE. 

expansion  becomes  the  rule,  and  in  the  end  bankruptcy, 
ruin,  and  repudiation. 

"  During  the  last  few  years  a  great  deal  has  been 
said  about  the  centralizing  tendency  of  recent  events 
in  our  history.  The  increasing  power  of  the  govern 
ment  at  Washington  has  been  a  favorite  theme  for 
Democratic  declamation.  But  where,  since  the  foun 
dation  of  the  government,  has  a  proposition  been  seri 
ously  entertained  which  would  confer  such  monstrous 
and  dangerous  powers  on  the  general  government  as 
this  inflation  scheme  of  the  Ohio  Democracy  ?  During 
the  war  for  the  Union,  solely  on  the  ground  of  neces 
sity,  the  government  issued  the  legal-tender  or  green 
back  currency.  But  they  accompanied  it  with  a  solemn 
pledge,  in  the  following  words  of  the  act  of  June  30, 
1864:  — 

"  '  Nor  shall  the  total  amount  of  United  States  notes 
issued  or  to  be  issued  ever  exceed  four  hundred  millions, 
and  such  additional  sum,  not  exceeding  fifty  millions, 
as  may  be  temporarily  required  for  redemption  of  tem 
porary  loans.* 

"  But  the  Ohio  inflationists,  in  a  time  of  peace,  on 
grounds  of  mere  expediency,  propose  an  inconvertible 
paper  currency,  with  its  volume  limited  only  by  the 
'lix.-retion  or  caprice  of  its  issuers,  or  their  judgment 
as  to  the  wants  of  trade.  The  most  distinguished  gen 
tleman  whose  name  is  associated  with  the  subject  once 
said,  '  The  process  must  be  conducted  with  skill  and 
caution,  ....  by  men  whose  position  will  enable  them 
to  guard  against  any  evil,'  and  using  a  favorite  illustni- 


DANGERS    OF    INFLATION.  137 

tion  he  said,  *  The  secretary  of  the  treasury  ought  to 
be  able  to  judge.  His  hand  is  upon  the  pulse  of  the 
country.  He  can  feel  all  the  throbbings  of  the  blood 
in  the  arteries.  He  can  tell  when  the  blood  flows  too 
fast  and  strong,  and  when  the  expansion  should  cease.' 
This  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  fundamental  error 
of  this  dangerous  policy.  The  trouble  is,  the  pulse  of 
the  patient  will  not  so  often  decide  the  question  as  the 
interest  of  the  doctor.  No  man,  no  government,  no 
Congress  is  wise  enough  and  pure  enough  to  be  trusted 
with  this  tremendous  power  over  the  business  and 
property  and  labor  of  the  country.  That  which  con 
cerns  so  intimately  all  business  should  be  decided,  if 
possible,  on  business  principles,  and  not  be  left  to  de 
pend  on  the  exigencies  of  politics,  the  interests  of 
party,  or  the  ambition  of  public  men.  It  will  not  do 
for  property,  for  business,  or  for  labor  to  be  at  the 
mercy  of  a  few  political  leaders  at  Washington,  either 
in  or  out  of  Congress.  The  best  way  to  prevent  it  is 
to  apply  to  paper  money  the  old  test  sanctioned  by  the 
experience  of  all  nations  —  let  it  be  convertible  into 
coin.  If  it  can  respond  to  this  test,  it  will,  as  nearly 

as  possible,  be  sound,  safe,  and  stable 

"  The  credit  of  the  nation  depends  on  its  ability  and 
disposition  to  keep  its  promises.  If  it  fails  to  keep 
them,  and  suffers  them  to  depreciate,  its  credit  is 
tainted,  and  it  must  pay  high  rates  of  interest  on  all  of 
its  loans.  For  many  years  we  must  be  a  borrower  in 
the  markets  of  the  world.  The  interest-bearing  debt 
is  over  seventeen  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  If  we 


138  COST   OF  IMPAIRED   CREDIT. 

could  borrow  money  at  the  same  rate  with  some  of  the 
great  nations  of  Europe,  we  could  save  perhaps  two 
per  cent,  per  annum  on  this  sum.  Thirty  or  forty 
millions  a  year  we  are  paying  on  account  of  tainted 
credit.  The  more  promises  to  pay  an  individual  issues, 
without  redeeming  them,  the  worse  becomes  his  credit. 
It  is  the  same  with  nations.  The  legal-tender  note  for 
five  dollars  is  the  promise  of  the  United  States  to  pay 
that  sum  in  the  money  of  the  world,  in  coin.  No  time 
is  fixed  for  its  payment.  It  is  therefore  payable  on 
presentation  —  on  demand.  It  is  not  paid  ;  it  is  past 
due  ;  and  it  is  depreciated  to  the  extent  of  twelve  per 
cent.  The  country  recognizes  the  necessities  of  the 
situation,  and  waits,  and  is  willing  to  wait,  until  the 
productive  business  of  the  country  enables  the  govern 
ment  to  redeem.  But  the  Columbus  financiers  are  not 
satisfied.  They  demand  the  issue  of  more  promises. 
This  is  inflation.  No  man  can  doubt  the  result.  The 
credit  of  the  nation  will  inevitably  suffer.  There  will 
be  further  depreciation.  A  depreciation  of  ten  per 
cent,  diminishes  the  value  of  the  present  paper  currency 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  Its  ef 
fect  on  business  would  be  disastrous  in  the  extreme. 
The  present  legal  tenders  have  a  certain  steadiness, 
because  there  is  a  limit  fixed  to  their  amount.  Public 
opinion  confides  in  that  limit.  But  let  that  limit  be 
broken  down,  and  all  is  uncertainty.  The  authors  of 
this  scheme  believe  inflation  is  a  good  thing.  When 
this  subject  was  under  discussion,  a  few  years  ago,  the 
*  Cincinnati  Enquirer '  said,  '  The  issue  of  two  millions 


INFLATION  MEANS   REPUDIATION.  139 

dollars  of  currency  would  only  put  it  in  the  power  of 
each  voter  to  secure  $400  for  himself  and  family  to 
spend  in  the  course  of  a  life-time.  Is  there  any  voter 
thinks  that  is  too  much  —  more  than  he  will  want  ? ' 
This  shows  what  the  platform  means.  It  means  infla 
tion  without  limit ;  and  inflation  is  the  downward  path 
to  repudiation.  It  means  ruin  to  the  nation's  credit,  and 
to  all  individual  credit.  All  the  rest  of  the  world  have 
the  same  standard  of  value.  Our  promises  are  worth 
less  as  currency  the  moment  you  pass  our  boundary  line. 
Even  in  this  country,  very  extensive  sections  still  use 
the  money  of  the  world.  Texas,  the  most  promising 
and  flourishing  State  of  the  South,  uses  coin.  Cali 
fornia  and  the  other  Pacific  States  and  Territories  do 
the  same.  Look  at  their  condition.  Texas  and  Cali 
fornia  are  not  the  least  prosperous  part  of  the  United 
States.  This  scheme  cannot  be  adopted.  The  opin 
ion  of  the  civilized  world  is  against  it.  The  vast  ma 
jority  of  the  ablest  newspapers  of  the  country  is  against 
it.  The  best  minds  of  the  Democratic  party  are  against 
it.  The  last  three  Democratic  candidates  for  the  pres- 
idencv  were  against  it.  The  German  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  so  distinguished  for  industry,  for  thrift, 
and  for  soundness  of  judgment  in  all  practical  money 
affairs,  are  a  unit  against  it.  The  Republican  party  is 
against  it.  The  people  of  Ohio  will,  I  am  confident, 
decide  in  October  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  it." 

After  all,  however,  in  this  matter  of  honest  money, 
as  in  all  others,  the  nearer  you  can  come  to  Hayes,  the 
more  of  a  man  you  find  him,  and  a  letter  of  his,  not 


140      LETTER  TO  GENERAL  GARFIELD. 

written  for  the  public  eye,  shows  better  than  any  med 
itated  utterance  how  sturdily  steadfast  he  continues  in 
the  principles  of  common  sense  and  of  common  justice. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  STATE  OF  OHIO,  COLUMBUS,  j 
March  4,  1876.  > 

MY  DEAR  GENERAL  GARFIELD,  —  I  have  your 
note  of  2d.  I  am  kept  busy  with  callers,  correspond 
ence,  and  the  routine  details  of  the  office,  and  have 
not  therefore  tried  to  keep  abreast  of  the  currents  of 
opinion  on  any  of  the  issues.  My  notion  is  that  the 
true  contest  is  to  be  between  inflation  and  a  sound  cur 
rency.  The  Democrats  are  again  drifting  all  to  the 
wrong  side.  We  need  not  divide  on  details,  on  meth 
ods,  or  time  when. 

The  previous  question  will  again  be  irredeemable 
paper  as  a  permanent  policy,  or  a  policy  which  seeks  a 
return  to  coin.  My  opinion  is  decidedly  against  yield 
ing  a  hair's  breadth. 

We  can't  be  on  the  inflation  side  of  the  question. 
We  must  keep  our  face,  our  front,  firmly  in  the  other 
direction.  "  No  steps  backward"  must  be  something  more 
than  unmeaning  platform  words.  "  The  drift  of  senti 
ment  among  our  friends  in  Ohio,"  which  you  inquire 
about,  will  depend  on  the  conduct  of  our  leading  men.  It 
is  for  them  to  see  that  the  right  sentiment  is  steadily 
upheld.  We  are  in  a  condition  such  that  firmness  and 
adherence  to  principle  are  of  peculiar  value  just  now. 
I  would  "  consent  "  to  no  backward  steps.  To  yield  or 
compromise  is  weakness,  and  will  destroy  us.  If  a 
better  resumption  can  be  substituted  for  the  present 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  MEASURES.      141 

one,  that  may  do.      But  keep  cool.      We  can  better  af 
ford  to  be  beaten  in  Congress  than  to  back  out. 

Sincerely,  B.  B.  HAYES. 

RECONSTRUCTION  AND  PACIFICATION. 

On  all  the  measures  of  reconstruction,  Hayes,  while 
in  Congress,  constantly  voted  with  the  Republican 
party,  and  his  judgment  and  heart  were  alike  in  their 
favor.  Outside  of  Congress  he  was  active  in  securing 
the  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amendments;  as  gov 
ernor,  "  believing  that  the  measure  was  right,  and  that 
the  people  approved  of  it,"  he  recommended  the  ratifi 
cation  of  the  fifteenth  amendment ;  and  he  duly  had  the 
pleasure  of  certifying  to  the  general  government  the 
fact  of  its  adoption.  He  held  that  "  the  United 
States  were  not  a  confederacy  bound  together  by  a 
mere  treaty  or  compact,  but  a  nation,"  in  which  equality 
was  "  an  equality  of  rights."  It  was  his  firm  belief 
that  "  the  first  and  highest  duty  of  the  people  of  the 
North  to  themselves,  to  the  South,  to  their  country, 
and  to  God,  was  to  crush  the  rebellion,"  and  that  "  after 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  the  next  plain  duty  of 
the  national  government  was  to  see  that  the  lives,  lib 
erty,  and  property  of  all  classes  of  citizens  were  secure, 
and  especially  to  see  that  the  loyal  white  and  colored 
citizens  who  resided,  or  might  sojourn  in  those  States, 
did  not  suffer  injustice,  oppression,  or  outrage  because 
of  their  loyalty." 

In  a  speech  made  during  his  campaign  against  Thur- 
man  in  18G7,  he  dealt  with  fallacies  which  are  as  impu 
dently  proposed  to-dny  as  they  were  then  :  — 


142  THE   LOST  CAUSE  NOT   ABANDONED. 

"  Our  adversaries  are  accustomed  to  talk  of  the  re 
bellion  as  an  affair  which  began  when  the  rebels  at 
tacked  Fort  Sumter  in  1861,  and  which  ended  when 
Lee  surrendered  to  Grant  in  1865.  It  is  true  that  the 
attempt  by  force  of  arms  to  destroy  the  United  States 
began  and  ended  during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln.  But  the  causes,  the  principles,  and  the  motives 
which  produced  the  rebellion  are  of  an  older  date  than 
the  generation  which  suffered  from  the  fruit  they  bore, 
and  their  influence  and  power  are  likely  to  last  long  after 
that  generation  passes  away.  Ever  since  armed  rebel 
lion  failed,  a  large  party  in  the  South  have  struggled 
to  make  participation  in  the  rebellion  honorable,  and 
loyalty  to  the  Union  dishonorable.  The  lost  cause 
with  them  is  the  honored  cause.  In  society,  in  busi 
ness,  and  in  politics,  devotion  to  treason  is  the  test  of 
merit,  the  passport  to  preferment.  They  wish  to  return 
to  the  old  state  of  things,  an  oligarchy  of  race  and  the 
sovereignty  of  States. 

"  To  defeat  this  purpose,  to  secure  the  rights  of  man, 
and  to  perpetuate  the  national  Union,  are  the  objects 
of  the  congressional  plan  of  reconstruction.  That  plan 
has  the  hearty  support  of  the  great  generals  (so  far  as 
their  opinions  are  known) — of  Grant,  of  Thomas,  of 
Sheridan,  of  Howard  —  who  led  the  armies  of  the 
I'nion  which  conquered  the  rebellion.  The  statesmen 
most  trusted  by  Mr.  Lincoln  and  by  the  loyal  people  of 
the  country  during  the  war  also  support  it.  The 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  upon  formal  ap 
plication  and  after  solemn  argument,  refuse  to  interfere 


ENFRANCHISEMENT  OF  THE  BLACKS.     143 

with  its  execution.  The  loyal  press  of  the  country, 
which  did  so  much  in  the  time  of  need  to  uphold  the 
patriot  cause,  without  exception  are  in  favor  of  the  plan." 

In  the  same  effort  —  so  nobly  free  from  the  arts  of 
the  rhetorician  and  the  clap-trap  of  the  politician  — 
he  said  of  the  proposal  to  enfranchise  the  blacks :  — 

"  There  are  now  within  the  limits  of  the  United 
States  about  five  millions  of  colored  people.  They  are 
not  aliens  or  strangers.  They  are  here  not  by  the 
choice  of  themselves  or  of  their  ancestors.  They  are 
here  by  the  misfortune  of  their  fathers  and  the  crime 
of  ours.  Their  labor,  privations,  and  sufferings,  unpaid 
and  unrequited,  have  cleared  and  redeemed  one  third 
of  the  inhabited  territory  of  the  Union.  Their  toil  has 
added  to  the  resources  and  wealth  of  the  nation  untold 
millions.  Whether  we  prefer  it  or  not,  they  are  our 
countrymen,  and  will  remain  so  forever. 

"  They  are  more  than  countrymen  —  they  are  citi 
zens.  Free  colored  people  were  citizens  of  the  colonies. 
The  constitution  of  the  United  States,  formed  by  our 
fathers,  created  no  disabilities  on  account  of  color.  By 
the  acts  of  our  fathers  and  of  ourselves,  they  bear 
equally  the  burdens,  and  are  required  to  discharge  the 
highest  duties  of  citizens.  They  are  compelled  to  pay 
taxes  and  to  bear  arms.  They  fought  side  by  side  with 
their  white  countrymen  in  the  great  struggle  for  inde 
pendence,  and  in  the  recent  war  for  the  Union.  In  the 
revolutionary  contest  colored  men  bore  an  honorable 
part,  from  the  Boston  Massacre,  in  1770,  to  the  sur 
render  of  Cornwallis,  in  1781.  Bancroft  says  :  '  Their 


144  COLORED   MEN   AS   SOLDIERS. 

names  may  be  read  on  the  pension  rolls  of  the  country 
side  by  side  with  those  of  other  soldiers  of  the  Revolu 
tion.'  In  the  war  of  1812,  General  Jackson  issued  an 
order  complimenting  the  colored  men  of  his  army  en 
gaged  in  the  defense  of  New  Orleans.  I  need  not 
speak  of  their  number  or  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion. 
The  nation  enrolled  and  accepted  them,  among  her  de 
fendants  to  the  number  of  about  two  hundred  thousand, 
and  in  the  new  regular  army  act,  passed  at  the  close  of 
the  rebellion  by  the  votes  of  Democrats  and  Union 
men  alike,  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House,  and  by  the 
assent  of  the  President,  regiments  of  colored  men, 
cavalry  and  infantry,  form  part  of  the  standing  army 
of  the  republic. 

"  In  the  navy,  colored  American  sailors  have  fought 
side  by  side  with  white  men  from  the  days  of  Paul 
Jones  to  the  victory  of  the  Kearsarge  over  the  rebel 
pirate  Alabama.  Colored  men  will,  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past,  in  all  times  of  national  peril,  be  our  fellow- 
soldiers.  Tax-payers,  countrymen,  fellow-citizens,  and 
fellow  soldiers,  the  colored  men  of  America  have  been 
and  will  be.  It  is  now  too  late  for  the  adversaries  of 
nationality  and  human  rights  to  undertake  to  deprive 
these  tax-payers,  freemen,  citizens,  and  soldiers  of  the 
right  to  vote. 

"  Slaves  were  never  voters.  It  was  bad  enough  that 
our  fathers,  for  the  sake  of  union,  were  compelled  to 
allow  masters  to  reckon  three  fifths  of  their  slaves  for 
representation,  without  adding  slave  suffrage  to  the 
other  privileges  of  the  slave-holder.  But  free  colored 


NOT  A  WHITE  MAN'S   GOVERNMENT.  145 

men  were  always  voters  in  many  of  the  colonies,  and 
in  several  of  the  States,  North  and  South,  after  inde 
pendence  was  achieved.  They  voted  for  members  of 
the  Congress  which  declared  independence,  and  for 
members  of  every  Congress  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the 
federal  constitution;  for  the  members  of  the  conven 
tion  which  framed  the  constitution  ;  for  the  members 
of  many  of  the  State  conventions  which  ratified  it,  and 
for  every  President  from  Washington  to  Lincoln. 

"  Our  government  has  been  called  the  white  man's 
government.  Not  so.  It  is  not  the  government  of 
any  class,  or  sect,  or  nationality,  or  race.  It  is  a  gov 
ernment  founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and 
Mr.  Broomall,  of  Pennsylvania,  therefore  properly  calls 
it  'the  government  of  the  governed/  It  is  not  the 
government  of  the  native  born,  or  of  the  foreign  born, 
of  the  rich  man,  or  of  the  poor  man,  of  the  white  man, 
or  of  the  colored  man  —  it  is  the  government  of  the 
freeman.  And  when  colored  men  were  made  citizens, 
soldiers,  and  freemen,  by  our  consent  and  votes,  we 
were  estopped  from  denying  to  them  the  right  of  suf 
frage." 

Up  to  the  present  moment  Hayes  has  receded  from 
none  of  his  positions  upon  reconstruction,  and  as  to  the 
pacification  of  the  South  he  has  never  ceased  to  desire 
and  promote  it.  But  as  the  French  philosopher  said 
in  assenting  to  the  proposition  that  capital  punishment 
should  be  abolished :  "  Very  well ;  let  the  murderers 
begin."  No  white  man  throughout  the  whole  length 
and  breadth  of  the  South,  no  matter  how  rebellious  he 
10 


146          A   SOUTHERN  DEMOCRAT'S  TESTIMONY. 

may  have  been ;  no  ex-Confederate  steeped  in  North 
ern  blood,  will  be  molested  by  President  Hayes  in  the 
rights  of  his  restored  citizenship  ;  no  Southerner  who 
does  not  fear  justice  need  fear  him.  And  this  fact 
Southerners  understand  as  well  as  we.  It  is  the  banded 
murderers  who  slay  in  secret  and  openly,  who  violate 
the  rights  of  other  men  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness  —  it  is  these  alone  who  have  cause  to 
dread  his  election,  not  such  true  men  as  the  writer  of 
the  following  letter,  who  differs  from  tens  of  thousands 
of  others  in  the  South  only  in  publicly  avowing  what 
they  privately  feel  to  be  true. 

GALVESTON,  April  18, 1876. 
HON.  A.  B.  NORTON  : 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  indebted  to  your  kindly  feeling 
for  the  intelligence  of  the  18th  inst,  containing  your 
article  on  Governor  R.  B.  Hayes  and  "  old  Kenyon," 
the  alma  mater  of  each  of  us. 

I  have  seen  with  much  pleasure  and  satisfaction  that 
Governor  Hayes  has  been  frequently  mentioned  by  the 
press,  and  unanimously  nominated  by  the  Republican 
convention  of  Ohio,  for  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States. 

Although  I  am,  and  have  long  been  from  principle, 
a  Democrat,  and  expect  to  support  and  vote  the  Dem 
ocratic  ticket  at  the  next  presidential  election,  yet  I 
hope  Governor  Hayes  will  receive  the  nomination  of 
the  Republican  party  ;  for,  if  your  party  should  be 
successful,  there  is  no  distinguished  member  of  it  I 
would  rather  see  President  than  Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 


WHAT   THE  SOUTH  NEEDS.  147 

for  I  know  him  well,  and  I  believe  that  he  is  honest, 
that  he  is  capable,  and  that  he  will  be  faithful  to  the 
constitution.  Having  been  in  Congress  four  years, 
and  governor  of  Ohio  the  third  time,  he  has  experi 
ence,  and  is  a  statesman  of  incorruptible  integrity, 
besides  being  a  genial  and  dignified  gentleman,  a 
scholar,  a  sound  lawyer  and  patriot  —  one  who,  if 
elected,  would  be  President  for  the  whole  country,  and 
not  for  a  section.  What  the  South  most  needs  is  good 
local  government,  and  one  in  the  presidential  chair  who 
will  do  all  he  can  under  the  constitutions,  Federal  and 
State,  to  promote  it.  I  believe,  if  elected,  Hayes  will 
do  this. 

In  addition  to  what  I  have  said,  I  will  add  that  he 
has,  of  my  own  knowledge,  a  personal  interest  in  our 
State.  He  spent  the  winter  and  part  of  the  spring  of 
1848  and  1849  in  Texas.  Since  then  he  has  kept  up 
his  interest  in  our  State,  and  to-day  has  a  better  Texan 
library  than  many  of  our  own  educated  citizens.  In 
the  first  speech  of  his  late  political  campaign  (which  he 
sent  me),  he  spoke  of  Texas  in  the  most  compliment 
ary  manner.  I  can  most  truthfully  say  that  my  old 
classmate,  and  almost  life-long  friend,  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes,  deserves  all  and  more  than  all  that  you  have 
said  of  him ;  and  I  believe,  if  he  should  be  chosen 
President,  that  he  will  make  such  a  President  as  to  se 
cure  the  confidence  of  the  South  as  well  as  the  North  ; 
and  if  any  one  of  your  party  can  bring  back  the  Mon 
roe  era  of  good  feeling  in  politics,  it  is  R.  B.  Hayes. 
Very  truly,  etc.,  GUY  M.  BRYAN. 


148  SECULAR   FREE  EDUCATION. 

The  reader  will  remember  the  writer  of  this  letter, 
and  will  honor  his  frankness  and  loyalty  to  his  old 
friend  in  a  section  where  the  terror  of  social  ostracism, 
quite  as  much  as  political  conviction,  will  reduce  the 
white  vote  for  Hayes  to  a  minimum.  Southerners  like 
him  have  the  sympathy  and  compassion  of  all  right- 
thinking  Northern  men,  and  they  may  rest  secure  in 
Mr.  Bryan's  confidence.  But  neither  they  nor  any  one 
could  make  a  greater  mistake  than  to  suppose  that 
Hayes  is  one  of  the  vulgar  sentimentalists  who  would 
barter  the  sacred  and  terrible  memories  of  the  past  for 
a  moment  of  unmeaning  effusion  ;  one  of  the  witless 
and  heartless  milksops  who  befoul,  in  their  brutal 
phrase  of  the  "bloody  shirt,"  the  fame  of  those  who 
died  on  battle-field  and  in  prison:pen  during  the  war, 
and  have  since  perished  in  the  same  cause  by  assassina 
tion  all  over  the  South. 

SECULAR    FREE    EDUCATION. 

On  this  point,  as  on  all  others,  Hayes  has  had  per 
fect  confidence  in  the  people.  At  a  serenade  given  him 
in  Columbus  after  his  last  nomination  for  governor,  he 
said :  "  If  it  shall  turn  out  that  the  party  in  -power  is 
dangerously  allied  to  any  body  of  men  who  are  opposed 
to  our  free  schools,  and  have  proclaimed  undying  hos 
tility  to  our  educational  system,  then  I  doubt  not  the 
people  will  make  a  change  in  the  administration." 
And  in  his  speech  at  Marion  in  the  same  canvass  he 
treated  the  question  at  length.  "  Altogether  the  most 
interesting  questions  in  our  State  affairs,"  he  said,  "  are 


THE  WAR  AGAINST   FUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  149 

those  which  relate  to  the  passage,  by  the  last  legisla 
ture,  of  the  Geghan  bill  [to  provide  Catholic  books  for 
prisoners  in  the  pententiary],  and  the  war  which  the 
sectarian  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  is  now  waging 
against  the  public  schools.  In  the  admirable  speech 
made  by  Judge  Taft  at  the  Republican  State  conven 
tion,  he  sounded  the  key-note  to  the  canvass  on  this 
subject.  He  said,  *  Our  motto  must  be  universal  liberty 
and  universal  suffrage,  secured  by  universal  education.' 
Before  we  discuss  these  questions,  it  may  be  well,  in 
order  that  there  may  be  no  excuse  for  further  misrep 
resentation,  to  show  by  whom  this  subject  was  intro 
duced  into  politics,  and  to  state  explicitly  that  we  at 
tack  no  sect  and  no  man,  either  Protestant  or  Jew, 
Catholic  or  unbeliever,  on  account  of  his  conscientious 
convictions  in  regard  to  religion.  Who  began  the  agi 
tation  of  this  subject  ?  Why  is  it  agitated  ?  All  parties 
have  taken  hold  of  it.  The  Democratic  party  in  their 
State  convention  make  it  the  topic  of  their  longest  res 
olution.  In  their  platform  they  gave  it  more  space 
than  any  other  subject  except  the  currency.  Many 
of  the  Democratic  county  conventions  also  took  action 
upon  it. 

"  The  Republican  State  convention  passed  resolu 
tions  on  the  question.  It  is  stated  that  it  was  con 
sidered  in  about  forty  Republican  county  conventions. 
The  State  Teachers'  Association,  at  their  last  meeting, 
passed  unanimously  the  following  resolution.  Mr.  Tap- 
pan,  from  the  committee  on  resolutions,  reported  the 
following  :  — 


150  DIVISION   OF   THE  SCHOOL   FUND. 

"  'Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  a  free,  impartial, 
and  unsectarian  education  for  every  child  in  the  State, 
and  that  any  division  of  the  school  fund  or  appropria 
tion  of  any  part  thereof  to  any  religious  or  private 
school  would  be  injurious  to  education  and  the  best  in 
terests  of  the  church/ 

"  The  assemblies  of  the  different  religious  denomina 
tions  in  the  State  which  have  recently  been  held  have 
generally,  and  I  think  without  exception,  passed  similar 
resolutions.  If  blame  is  to  attach  to  all  who  consider 
and  discuss  this  question  before  the  public,  we  have 
had  a  very  large  body  of  offenders.  But  I  have  not 
named  all  who  are  engaged  in  it.  I  have  not  named 
those  who  began  it ;  those  who  for  years  have  kept  it 
up  ;  those  who  in  the  press,  on  the  platform,  in  the 
pulpit,  in  legislative  bodies,  in  city  councils,  and  in 
school  boards,  now  unceasingly  agitate  the  question. 
Everybody  knows  who  they  are  ;  everybody  knows  that 
the  sectarian  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  began  this 
agitation,  and  that  it  is  bent  on  the  destruction  of  our 
free  schools 

"The  sectarian  agitation  against  the  public  schools 
was  begun  many  years  ago.  During  the  last  few  years 
it  has  steadily  and  rapidly  increased,  and  has  been  en 
couraged  by  various  indications  of  possible  success.  It 
extends  to  all  of  the  States  where  schools  at  the  com 
mon  expense  have  been  long  established.  Its  triumphs 
are  mainly  in  the  large  towns  and  cities.  It  has  already 
divided  the  schools,  and  in  a  considerable  degree  im 
paired  a*id  limited  their  usefulness.  The  glory  of  the 


I 

THE  AMERICAN  IDEA   OF  EDUCATION.          151 

American  system  of  education  has  been  that  it  was  so 
cheap  that  the  humblest  citizen  could  afford  to  give  his 
children  its  advantages,  and  so  good  that  the  man  of 
wealth  could  nowhere  provide  for  his  children  anything 
better.  This  gave  the  system  its  most  conspicuous 
merit.  It  made  it  a  republican  system.  The  young 
of  all  conditions  of  life  are  brought  together  and  edu 
cated  on  terms  of  perfect  equality.  The  tendency  of 
this  is  to  assimilate  and  to  fuse  together  the  various 
elements  of  our  population,  to  promote  unity,  harmony, 
and  general  good-will  in  our  American  society.  But 
the  enemies  of  the  American  system  have  begun  the 
work  of  destroying  it.  They  have  forced  away  from 
the  public  schools,  in  many  towns  and  cities,  one  third 
or  one  fourth  of  their  pupils,  and  sent  them  to  schools 
which  it  is  safe  to  say  are  no  whit  superior  to  those 
they  have  left.  These  youth  are  thus  deprived  of  the 
associations  and  the  education  in  practical  republican 
ism  and  American  sentiments  which  they  peculiarly 
need.  Nobody  questions  their  constitutional  and  legal 
right  to  do  this,  and  to  do  it  by  denouncing  the  public 
schools.  Sectarians  have  a  lawful  right  to  say  that 
these  schools  are  l  a  relict  of  paganism  —  that  they  are 
godless,'  and  that  *  the  secular  school  system  is  a  so 
cial  cancer.'  But  when,  having  thus  succeeded  in  di 
viding  the  schools,  they  make  that  a  ground  for  abol 
ishing  school  taxation,  dividing  the  school  fund,  or 
otherwise  destroying  the  system,  it  is  time  that  its 
friends  should  rise  up  in  its  defense. 
."We  all  agree  that  neither  the  government  nor 


152        DEMOCRATIC  ATTACK  ON   THE  SCHOOLS. 

political  parties  ought  to  interfere  with  religious  sects. 
It  is  equally  true  that  religious  sects  ought  not  to  in 
terfere  with  the  government  or  with  political  parties. 
We  believe  that  the  cause  of  good  government  and  the 
cause  of  religion  both  suffer  by  all  such  interference. 
But  if  sectarians  make  demands  for  legislation  of  po 
litical  parties,  and  threaten  that  party  with  opposition 
at  the  elections  in  case  the  required  enactments  are 
not  passed,  and  if  the  political  party  yields  to  such 
threats,  then  those  threats,  those  demands,  and  that 
action  of  the  political  party  become  a  legitimate  sub 
ject  of  political  discussion,  and  the  sectarians  who  thus 
interfere  with  the  legislation  of  the  State  are  alone 
responsible  for  the  agitation  which  follows. 

"  And  now  a  few  words  as  to  the  action  of  the  last 
legislature  on  this  subject.  After  an  examination  of 
the  Geghan  bill,  we  shall  perhaps  come  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  in  itself  it  is  not  of  great  importance.  I 
would  not  undervalue  the  conscientious  scruples  on  the 
subject  of  religion  of  a  convict  in  the  penitentiary, 
or  of  any  unfortunate  person  in  any  State  institution. 
But  the  provision  of  the  constitution  of  the  State 
covers  the  whole  ground.  It  needs  no  awkwardly 
framed  statute  of  doubtful  meaning,  like  the  Geghan 
bill,  to  accomplish  the  object  of  the  organic  law. 

"  The  author  of  the  bill  wrote,  '  the  members  claim 
that  such  a  bill  is  not  needed.'  The  same  opinion 
prevails  in  New  Jersey,  where  a  similar  bill  is  said  to 
have  been  defeated  by  a  vote  of  three  to  one.  Uuf 
the  sectarians  of  Ohio  were  resolved  on  the  passage  of 


PRIESTLY   THREATS.  153 

this  bill.  Mr.  Geghan,  its  author,  wrote  to  Mr.  Mur 
phy,  of  Cincinnati :  — 

"  *  We  have  a  prior  claim  upon  the  Democratic  party. 
The  elements  composing  the  Democratic  party  in  Ohio 
to-day  are  made  up  of  Irish  and  German  Catholics,  and 
they  have  always  been  loyal  and  faithful  to  the  inter 
ests  of  the  party.  Hence  the  party  is  under  obligations 
to  us,  and  we  have  a  perfect  right  to  demand  of  them, 
as  a  party,  inasmuch  as  they  are  in  control  of  the  State 
legislature  and  State  government,  and  were  by  both 
our  means  and  votes  placed  where  they  are  to-day,  that 
they  should,  as  a  party,  redress  our  grievances.' 

"  The  organ  of  the  friends  of  the  bill  published  this 
letter,  and  among  other  things  said  :  — 

" '  The  political  party  with  which  nine  tenths  of  the 
Catholic  voters  affiliate,  on  account  of  past  services  that 
they  will  never  forget,  now  controls  the  State.  With 
draw  the  support  which  Catholics  have  given  to  it,  and 
it  will  fall  in  this  city,  county,  and  State  as  speedily 
as  it  has  risen  to  its  long  lost  position  and  power. 
That  party  is  now  on  trial.  Mr.  Geghan's  bill  will 
test  the  sincerity  of  its  professions.' 

"  That  threat  was  effectual.  The  bill  was  passed, 
and  the  sectarian  organ  therefore  said :  — 

"'The  unbroken  solid  vote  of  the  Catholic  citizens 
of  the  State  will  be  given  to  the  Democracy  at  the  fall 
election.' 

"  In  regard  to  those  who  voted  against  the  bill,  it 
said  :  l  They  have  dug  their  political  grave  ;  it  will  not 
be  our  fault  if  they  do  not  fill  it.  When  any  of  them  ap- 


154  PASSAGE  OF   THE   GEGHAN   BILL. 

pear  again  in  the  political  arena,  we  will  put  upon  them 
a  brand  that  every  Catholic  citizen  will  understand.' 
No  defense  of  this  conduct  of  the  last  legislature  has 
yet  been  attempted.  The  facts  are  beyond  dispute. 
This  is  the  first  example  of  open  and  successful  sec 
tarian  interference  with  legislation  in  Ohio.  If  the 
people  are  wise,  they  will  give  it  such  a  rebuke  in  Octo 
ber  that  for  many  years,  at  least,  it  will  be  the  last. 

"  But  it  is  claimed  that  the  schools  are  in  no  danger. 
Now  that  public  attention  is  aroused  to  the  importance 
of  the  subject,  it  is  probable  that  in  Ohio  they  are  safe. 
But  their  safety  depends  on  the  rebuke  which  the  peo 
ple  shall  give  to  the  party  which  yielded  last  spring  at 
Columbus  to  the  threats  of  their  enemies.  It  is  said 
that  no  political  party  'desires  the  destruction  of  the 
schools.'  I  reply,  no  political  party  '  desired '  the  pas- 
sage  of  the  Geghan  bill ;  but  the  power  which  hates 
the  schools  passed  the  bill.  The  sectarian  wing  of  the 
Democratic  party  rules  that  party  to-day  in  the  great 
commercial  metropolis  of  the  nation.  It  holds  the  bal 
ance  of  power  in  many  of  the  large  cities  of  the  coun 
try.  Without  its  votes,  the  Democratic  party  would 
lose  every  large  city  and  county  in  Ohio,  and  every 
Northern  State.  In  the  presidential  canvass  of  1864, 
it  was  claimed  that  General  McClellan  was  as  good  a 
Union  man  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  that  he  was  as 
much  opposed  to  the  rebellion.  An  eminent  citizen  of 
this  State  replied :  *  I  learn  from  my  adversaries. 
Whom  <Ii>  the  enemies  of  the  Union  want  eleelnl? 
The  man  they  are  for,  I  am  against.'  So  1  would  say 


ONE  TERM;  ELECTIVE  JUDICIARY.  155 

to  the  friends  of  the  public  schools :  <  How  do  the 
enemies  of  universal  education  vote  ? '  If  the  enemies 
of  the  free  schools  give  their  *  unbroken,  solid  vote '  to 
the  Democratic  ticket,  the  friends  of  the  schools  will 
make  no  mistake  if  they  vote  the  Republican  ticket." 

ONE    TERM    FOR    PRESIDENT. 

We  find  nothing  in  Hayes's  published  writings  or 
speeches,  before  the  letter  of  acceptance,  bearing  upon 
this  point.  But  there  are  other  evidences  that  he  was 
deliberately  arriving  at  it,  and  we  take  leave  to  think 
that  a  man  who  has  dwelt  so  long,  so  closely,  and  so 
penetratingly  upon  all  questions  bearing  upon  admin 
istration  has  probably  considered  it  more  thoroughly 
and  wisely  than  any  of  his  critics. 

In  regard  to  reforms  not  spoken  of  in  the  letter  of 
acceptance,  the  reader  will  be  glad  to  see  that  Hayes's 
progress  had  been  constant  and  in  the  right  direction. 
His  views  upon  the  chief  of  these  must  suffice. 

ELECTIVE    JUDICIARY    A    FAILURE. 

"  Our  judicial  system  is  plainly  inadequate  to  the 
wants  of  the  people  of  the  State.  Extensive  alterations 
of  existing  provisions  must  be  made.  The  suggestions 
I  desire  to  present  in  this  connection  are  as  to  the 
manner  of  selecting  judges,  their  terms  of  office,  and 
their  salaries.  It  is  fortunately  true  that  the  judges  of 
our  courts  have  heretofore  been,  for  the  most  part,  law 
yers  of  learning,  ability,  and  integrity.  But  it  must  bc% 
remembered  that  the  tremendous  events  and  the  won- 


156  ECONOMY   IN  ADMINISTRATION. 

derful  progress  of  the  last  few  years  are  working  great 
changes  in  the  condition  of  our  society.  Hitherto,  pop 
ulation  has  been  sparse,  property  not  unequally  dis 
tributed,  and  the  bad  elements  which  so  frequently 
control  large  cities  have  been  almost  unknown  in  our 
State.  But  with  a  dense  population  crowding  into 
towns  and  cities,  with  vast  wealth  accumulating  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  persons  or  corporations,  it  is  to  be  ap 
prehended  that  the  time  is  coming  when  judges  elected 
by  popular  vote,  for  short  official  terms,  and  poorly 
paid,  will  not  possess  the  independence  required  to  pro 
tect  individual  rights.  Under  the  national  constitution, 
judges  are  nominated  by  the  executive  and  confirmed 
by  the  Senate,  and  hold  office  during  good  behavior. 
It  is  worthy  of  consideration  whether  a  return  to  the 
system  established  by  the  fathers  is  not  the  dictate  of 
the  highest  prudence.  1  believe  that  a  system  under 
which  judges  are  so  appointed,  for  long  terms  and  with 
adequate  salaries,  will  afford  to  the  citizen  the  amplest 
possible  security  that  impartial  justice  will  be  admin 
istered  by  an  independent  judiciary."  (Inaugural  of 
1870.) 

ECONOMICAL    STATE    AND    LOCAL    ADMINISTRATIONS. 

"  One  of  the  most  valuable  articles  of  the  present 
State  constitution  is  that  which  prohibits  the  State, 
save  in  a  few  exceptional  cases,  from  creating  any  debt, 
and  which  provides  for  the  payment  at  an  early  day  oi 
the  debt  already  contracted.  I  am  convinced  that  it 
would  be  wise  to  extend  the  same  policy  to  the  creation 


TAXES   BY   THE   TAXED.  157 

of  public  debts  by  county,  city,  and  other  local  author 
ities.  The  rule,  '  Pay  as  you  go,'  leads  to  economy  in 
public  as  well  as  in  private  affairs ;  while  the  power  to 
contract  debts  opens  the  door  to  wastefulness,  extrava 
gance,  and  corruption."  (Annual  Message,  1871.) 

TAXES    TO    BE    VOTED    BY    TAX-PAYERS. 

"  The  constitution  makes  it  the  duty  of  the  legis 
lature  to  restrict  the  powers  of  taxation,  borrowing 
money,  and  the  like,  so  as  to  prevent  their  abuse.  I 
respectfully  suggest  that  the  present  laws  conferring 
these  powers  on  local  authorities  require  extensive 
modification,  in  order  to  comply  with  this  constitutional 
provision.  Two  modes  of  limiting  these  powers  have 
the  sanction  of  experience.  All  large  expenditures 
should  meet  the  approval  of  those  who  are  to  bear 
their  burden.  Let  ail  extraordinary  expenditures 
therefore  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  and 
no  tax  be  levied  unless  approved  by  a  majority  of  all 
the  voters  of  the  locality  to  be  affected  by  the  tax,  at  a 
special  election,  the  number  of  voters  to  be  ascertained 
by  reference  to  the  votes  cast  at  the  State  election 
next  preceding  such  special  election.  Another  mode  is 
to  limit  the  rate  of  taxation  which  may  be  levied  and 
the  amount  of  debt  which  may  be  incurred.  It  has 
been  said  that  with  such  restrictions  upon  the  powers 
of  local  authorities,  the  legislature  will  be  importuned 
and  its  time  wasted  in  hearing  applications  for  special 
legislation.  The  ready  answer  to  all  such  applications 
by  local  authorities  will  be  to  refer  them  to  their  own 


158      MUNICIPAL   OUTLAYS  TO  BE  CONTROLLED. 

citizens  for  a  decision  of  the  question.  The  facility 
\vitli  which  affirmative  votes  can  be  obtained  under  the 
pressure  of  temporary  excitement  upon  propositions 
authorizing  indebtedness  may  require  further  restric 
tions  upon  the  power  to  borrow  money.  It  is  therefore 
suggested,  for  your  consideration,  to  limit  the  amount 
of  debt  for  a  single  purpose,  and  the  total  amount  for 
all  purposes  which  any  local  authority  may  contract  to 
a  certain  percentage  of  the  taxable  property  of  such 
locality."  (Annual  Message,  1869.) 

"  The  attention  of  the  legislature  has  often  been 
earnestly  invoked  to  the  rapid  increase  of  municipal 
and  other  local  expenditures,  and  the  consequent  aug 
mentation  of  local  taxation  and  local  indebtedness. 
This  increase  is  found  mainly  in  the  cities  and  large 
towns.  It  is  certainly  a  great  evil.  How  to  govern 
cities  well,  consistently  with  the  principles  and  methods 
of  popular  government,  is  one  of  the  most  important 
and  difficult  problems  of  our  time.  Profligate  expendi 
ture  is  the  fruitful  cause  of  municipal  misgovernment. 
If  a  means  can  be  found  which  will  keep  municipal  ex 
penses  from  largely  exceeding  the  public  necessities, 
its  adoption  will  go  far  towards  securing  honesty  and 
efficiency  in  city  affairs.  In  cities,  large  debts  and  bad 
government  go  together.  Cities  which  have  the  lightest 
taxes  and  smallest  debts  are  apt,  also,  to  have  the 
purest  and  most  satisfactory  governments. 

"  It  is  not  enough  to  require  in  every  grant  of  special 
authority  to  incur  debt,  as  a  condition  precedent,  that 
the  people  interested  shall  approve  it  by  their  votes. 


PUKITY    OF  THE  FRANCHISE.  159 

It  is  well  known  how  easily  such  elections  are  carried 
under  the  influence  of  local  excitement  and  local  rival 
ries.  If  the  rule  of  the  State  constitution  which  forbids 
all  debts  except  in  certain  specified  emergencies  is 
deemed  too  stringent  to  be  applied  to  local  affairs,  the 
legislature  should  at  least  accompany  every  authority 
to  contract  debt  with  an  imperative  requirement  that  a 
tax  sufficient  to  pay  off  the  indebtedness  within  a  brief 
period  shall  be  immediately  levied,  and  thus  compel 
every  citizen  who  votes  to  increase  debts  to  vote  at  the 
same  time  for  an  immediate  increase  of  taxes  sufficient 
to  discharge  them."  (Inaugural,  January,  1876.) 

PURITY    OF    THE    FRANCHISE. 

"  The  most  important  subject  of  legislation  which,  in 
my  judgment,  requires  the  attention  of  the  General  As 
sembly  at  its  present  session,  relates  to  the  prevention 
of  frauds  upon  the  elective  franchise.  Intelligent  men 
of  all  parties  are  persuaded  that  at  the  recent  impor 
tant  State  and  national  elections  great  abuses  of  the 
right  of  suffrage  were  practiced.  I  am  not  prepared  to 
admit  that  the  reports  commonly  circulated  and  believed 
in  regard  to  such  abuses  would,  so  far  as  the  elections 
in  Ohio  are  concerned,  be  fully  sustained  by  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  facts.  But  it  is  not  doubted  that, 
even  at  the  elections  in  our  own  State,  frauds  were  per 
petrated  to  such  an  extent  that  all  good  citizens  ear 
nestly  desire  that  effective  measures  may  be  adopted 
by  you  to  prevent  their  repetition.  No  elaborate  at 
tempt  to  portray  the  consequences  of  this  evil  is  re- 


160  MINORITY    REPRESENTATION. 

quired.  If  it  is  allowed  to  increase,  the  confidence  of 
the  people  in  the  purity  of  elections  will  be  lost,  and 
the  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage  will  be  neglected. 
To  corrupt  the  ballot-box  is  to  destroy  our  free  institu 
tions.  Let  all  good  citizens,  therefore,  unite  in  enact 
ing  and  enforcing  laws  which  will  secure  honest  elec 
tions."  (Annual  Message,  November,  1868.) 

MINORITY    REPRESENTATION. 

"  All  agree  that  a  republican  government  will  fail,  un 
less  the  purity  of  elections  is  preserved.  Convinced 
that  great  abuses  of  the  elective  franchise  cannot  be 
prevented  under  existing  legislation,  I  have  heretofore 
recommended  the  enactment  of  a  registry  law,  and  also 
of  some  appropriate  measure  to  secure  to  the  minority, 
as  far  as  practicable,  a  representation  upon  all  boards 
of  elections.  There  is  much  opposition  to  the  enact 
ment  of  a  registry  law.  Without  yielding  my  own 
settled  convictions  in  favor  of  such  a  law,  I  content 
myself,  in  this  communication,  with  urging  upon  your 
attention  a  measure  of  reform  in  the  manner  of  con 
ducting  elections,  the  importance  and  justice  of  which 
no  one  ventures  to  deny.  The  conduct  of  the  officers 
whose  duty  at  elections  it  is  to  receive  and  count  the 
ballots,  and  to  make  returns  of  the  result,  ought  to  be 
above  suspicion.  This  can  rarely  be  the  case  where 
they  all  belong  to  the  same  political  party.  A  fair  rep 
resentation  of  the  minority  will  go  far,  not  only  to  pre 
vent  fraud,  but,  what  is  almost  of  equal  importance,  to 
remove  the  suspicion  of  fraud.  I  do  not  express  any 


FAVORED   BY  HAYES.  161 

preference  for  any  particular  plan  of  securing  minority 
representation  in  the  boards  of  judges  and  clerks  of 
elections.  Various  modes  have  been  suggested,  and  it 
will  not  be  difficult  to  adopt  a  means  of  attaining  the 
desired  result  which  will  harmonize  with  our  system  of 
election  law."  (Annual  Message,  1869.) 
11 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHARACTER  :     POLITICIAN,  ORATOR,     PUBLIC    SERVANT, 
SOLDIER,    CITIZEN,    MAN. 

WE  should  have  written  to  little  purpose  if  we  had 
not  already  given  the  reader  some  distinct  idea  of  the 
sort  of  man  of  whom  we  have  been  treating :  a  man 
who,  if  you  look  at  him  from  the  side  of  motive,  is  as 
grandly  simple  a  figure  as  any  of  "  the  simple  great 
ones  gone  forever  and  ever  by,"  but  who  on  his  intel 
lectual  side  has  the  due  modern  complexity.  One  of 
the  anomalies  which  most  strikes  the  observer  of  his 
character  is  the  iron  fight  which  instantly  replaces  what 
seems  the  normal  repose,  almost  indifference,  of  his 
nature,  when  once  he  is  called  into  action  of  any  sort. 
Before  battle,  when  not  actually  charging  the  enemy, 
he  was  perfectly  tranquil ;  but  when  the  moment  came, 
his  tranquillity  was  found  heated  through,  and  till  the 
end  arrived  his  ardor  knew  no  abatement.  In  his  after 
political  life  the  same  traits  appeared,  and  the  man  who 
never  sought  an  office,  who  rigidly  refused  to  advance 
himself  before  a  convention,  had  no  sooner  accepted  a 
nomination  and  become  responsible  for.  the  success  of 
a  principle,  than  he  threw  himself  into  the  work  with 
a  fury  that  at  first  astonished,  and  always  dismayed  his 
enemies. 


METHODS   OF  POLITICAL   WARFARE.  163 

Some  life-long  habits  of  his  peculiarly  fit  him  for 
success  in  a  political  campaign.  He  has  been,  as  we 
have  already  shown,  a  constant  student  of  men  from 
his  boyhood,  and  he  has  been  as  thoroifgh  a  political 
observer  for  as  long  a  time.  Every  political  event  of 
the  smallest  significance,  every  politician  of  whatever 
calibre,  has  a  place  in  his  relentless  memory ;  he  knows 
the  whole  country  politically,  with  only  less  fullness 
than  he  knows  Ohio.  In  addition  to  this,  he  has  had 
the  habit  of  compiling  history  from  the  newspapers  as 
it  was  made,  and  from  these  collections  he  has  been 
able  at  any  time  to  confront  an  opponent  with  the  rec 
ord  of  that  opponent's  political  life  from  the  outset.  In 
certain  formidable  little  books,  Mr.  Thurman,  and  Mr. 
Pendleton,  and  Mr.  Allen  successively  found  that  he 
had  full  and  accurate  trace  of  their  political  turns  and 
windings  ;  that  a  man  who  had  nothing  to  regret  in 
his  own  past  had  forgotten  nothing  in  theirs.  When 
these  little  books  were  opened  on  the  stump,  and  their 
contents  supplemented  from  his  unfailing  memory,  it 
was  like  the  opening  of  the  books  of  doom  for  any 
hapless  politician  anxious  about  his  record. 

Whoever  met  Hayes  in  political  conflict  knew  that 
his  warfare  would  be  unsparing ;  yet  such  has  always 
been  the  personal  charm  of  the  man,  the  quality  of 
his  high  and  blameless  character,  that  the  bitterest  of 
his  political  enemies  has  been  glad  to  have  him  for  his 
friend  in  social  life.  At  the  end  of  a  campaign  of 
unwonted  fierceness,  when,  last  autumn,  his  success 
threw  into  retirement  a  man  too  old  to  hope  for  any 


164  CHARACTERISTICS  ON   THE   STUMP. 

future  triumph,  the  election  of  Hayes  was  confessedly 
more  acceptable  to  Mr.  Allen  than  that  of  any  other 
Republican  could  have  been.  "  If  we  must  have  a 
Republican,  I  am  glad  it  is  Hayes,"  said  the  ex-gov 
ernor  to  the  enterprising  interviewer  at  once  set  upon 
him.  Let  us  hope  that  Mr.  Tilden  will  be  able  to  con 
sole  himself  with  equal  magnanimity,  when  his  turn 
comes. 

On  the  stump,  Hayes  is  grave,  simple,  and  earnest. 
He  is  no  great  teller  of  stories,  no  maker  of  laughter; 
the  fine,  rather  delicate  humor  of  his  intimate  life  rarely 
appears  in  arguments  pressed  solidly  home  to  his  listen 
ers'  sense  of  right.  We  shall  give  some  idea  of  his 
method  of  dealing  with  an  opponent  by  quoting  passages 
from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  campaign  against  Thur- 
man,  but  these  can  convey  but  a  fragmentary  impression 
after  all.  If  the  reader  will  substitute  another  name 
for  Thurman's,  he  can  hardly  fail  to  believe  that  Hayes 
was  prophetically  arraigning  Mr.  Tilden  eight  years  ago. 
These  are  the  passages  from  his  speech. 

"I  will  quote  also  from  Judge  Thurman  himself. 
In  a  speech  lecturing  one  of  his  colleagues,  who  thought 
the  Mexican  war  was  unnecessary,  he  says :  — 

"  *  It  is  a  strange  way  to  support  one's  country  right 
or  wrong,  to  declare  after  war  has  begun,  when  it  exists 
both  in  law  and  in  fact,  that  the  war  is  aggressive,  un 
holy,  unrighteous,  and  damnable  on  the  part  of  the 
government  of  that  country,  and  on  that  government 
rests  its  responsibility  and  its  wrongfulness.  It  is  a 
strange  way  to  support  one's  country  right  or  wrong  in 


ARRAIGNMENT   OF  THURMAN.  165 

a  war,  to  tax  one's  imagination  to  the  utmost  to  depict 
the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  contest ;  to  dwell  on 
what  it  has  already  cost  and  what  it  will  cost  in  future  ; 
to  depict  her  troops  prostrated  by  disease  and  dying 
with  pestilence ;  in  a  word,  to  destroy,  as  far  as  possi 
ble,  the  moral  force  of  the  government  in  the  struggle, 
and  hold  it  up  to  its  own  people  and  the  world  as  the 
aggressor  that  merits  their  condemnation.  It  was  for 
this  that  I  arraigned  my  colleague,  and  that  I  intend  to 
arraign  him.  It  was  because  his  remarks,  as  far  as 
they  could  have  any  influence,  were  evidently  calculated 
to  depress  the  spirits  of  his  own  countrymen,  to  lessen 
the  moral  force  of  his  own  government,  and  to  inspire 
with  confidence  and  hope  the  enemies  of  his  country.' 

"  He  goes  on  further  to  say  :  — 

" '  What  a  singular  mode  it  was  of  supporting  her  in 
a  war  to  bring  against  the  war  nearly  all  the  charges 
that  were  brought  by  the  peace  party  Federalists  against 
the  last  war,  to  denounce  it  as  an  unrighteous,  unholy, 
and  damnable  war;  to  hold  up  our  government  to  the 
eyes  of  the  world  as  the  aggressors  in  the  conflict ;  to 
charge  it  with  motives  of  conquest  and  aggrandizement ; 
to  parade  and  portray  in  the  darkest  colors  all  the  hor 
rors  of  war ;  to  dwell  upon  its  cost  and  depict  its  ca 
lamities/  A 

"  Now,  that  was  the  doctrine  of  Judge  Thurman  as 
to  the  duties  of  citizens  in  time  of  war  —  in  time  of 
such  a  war  as  the  Mexican  war  even,  in  which  no  vital 
interest  of  the  country  could  by  possibility  suffer. 
Judge  Thurman  says  that  General  Hayes,  in  his  speech, 


166  A  TELLING   ATTACK. 

has  a  great  many  slips  cut  from  the  newspapers,  and 
that  he  must  have  had  some  sewing  society  of  old  ladies 
to  cut  out  the  slips  for  him.  I  don't  know  how  he 
found  that  out.  I  never  told  it,  and  you  know  the 
ladies  never  tell  secrets  that  are  confided  to  them.  I 
hold  in  my  hand  a  speech  of  Judge  Thurman,  from 
which  I  have  read  extracts,  and  I  find  that  he  has  in  it 
slips  cut  from  more  than  twenty  different  prints,  ser 
mons,  newspapers,  old  speeches,  and  pamphlets,  to  show 
how,  in  the  war  of  1812,  certain  Federalists  uttered 
unpatriotic  sentiments.  I  presume  he  must  have  ac 
quired  his  slips  on  that  day  in  the  way  he  says  I  ac 
quired  mine  now. 

"  Now,  my  friends,  I  propose  to  hold  Judge  Thur 
man  to  no  severe  rule  of  accountability  for  his  conduct 
during  the  war.  I  merely  ask  that  it  shall  be  judged 
by  his  own  rule  :  *  Your  country  is  engaged  in  war, 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  say  nothing  and 
do  nothing  which  shall  depress  the  spirits  of  his  own 
countrymen,  nothing  that  shall  encourage  the  enemies 
of  his  country,  or  give  them  moral  aid  or  comfort.' 
That  is  the  rule.  Now,  Judge  Thurman,  how  does 
your  conduct  square  with  it  ?  I  do  not  propose  to 
begin  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  or  even  just  before 
the  war,  to  cite  the  record  of  *  Judge  Thurman.  I  am 
willing  to  say  that  perhaps  men  might  have  been  mis 
taken  at  that  time.  They  might  have  supposed  in  the 
beginning  a  conciliatory  policy,  a  non-coercive  policy, 
would  in  some  way  avert  the  threatened  struggle. 
But  I  ask  you  to  approach  the  period  when  the  war 


THE  NATURE   OF  THE   GREAT   STRUGGLE.       167 

was  going  on,  when  armies  to  the  number  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men  were  ready  on  one  side  and  the 
other,  and  when  the  whole  world  knew  what  was  the 
nature  of  the  great  struggle  going  on  in  America. 
Taking  the  beginning  of  1863,  how  stands  the  conflict  ? 
WQ  have  pressed  the  rebellion  out  of  Kentucky  and 
through  Tennessee.  Grant  stands  before  Vicksburg, 
held  at  bay  by  the  army  of  Pembert6n  ;  Rosecrans, 
after  the  capture  of  Nashville,  has  pressed  forward  to 
Murfreesboro',  but  is  still  held  out  of  East  Tennessee  by 
the  army  of  Bragg.  The  army  of  the  Potomac  and 
the  army  of  Lee,  in  Virginia,  are  balanced,  the  one 
against  the  other.  The  whole  world  knows  that  that 
exhausting  struggle  cannot  last  long  without  deciding 
in  favor  of  one  side  or  the  other.  That  the  year  1863 
is  big  with  the  fate  of  Union  and  of  liberty,  every  in 
telligent  man  in  the  world  knows  —  that  on  one  side  it 
is  a  struggle  for  nationality  and  human  rights.  There 
is  not  in  all  Europe  a  petty  despot  who  lives  by  grind 
ing  the  masses  of  the  people,  who  does  not  know  that 
Lincoln  and  the  Union  are  his  enemies.  There  is  not 
a  friend  of  freedom  in  all  Europe  who  does  not  know 
that  Lincoln  and  the  loyal  army  are  fighting  in  the 
cause  of  free  government  for  all  the  world.  Now,  in 
that  contest,  where  are  you,  Judge  Thurman  ?  It  is  a 
time  when  we  need  men  and  money,  when  we  need  to 
have  our  people  inspired  with  hope  and  confidence. 
Your  sons  and  brothers  are  in  the  field.  Their  success 
depends  upon  your  conduct  at  home. 

"  The  men  who  are  to  advise  you  what  to  do  have 


168  ATTITUDE   OF  A   PEACE  DEMOCRAT. 

upon  them  a  dreadful  responsibility  to  give  you  wise 
and  patriotic  advice.  Judge  Thurman,  in  the  speech  I 
am  quoting  from,  says  :  — 

"  *  But  now,  my  friends,  I  shall  not  deal  with  obscure 
newspapers  or  obscure  men.  What  a  private  citizen 
like  Allen  G.  Thurman  may  have  said  in  1861  is  a 
matter  of  indifference.* 

"  Ah,  no,  Judge  Thurman,  the  Union  party  does  not 
propose  to  allow  your  record  to  go  without  investiga 
tion  because  you  are  a  private  citizen.  I  know  you 
held  no  official  position  under  the  government  at  the 
time  I  speak  of  ;  but,  sir,  you  had  for  years  been  a 
leading,  able,  and  influential  man  in  the  great  party 
which  had  often  carried  your  State.  You  were  acting 
under  grave  responsibilities.  More  than  that,  during 
that  year,  1863,  you  were  more  than  a  private  citizen. 
You  were  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  State  convention 
of  that  year  ;  you  were  one  of  the  committee  that 
forms  your  party  platform  in  that  convention ;  you 
were  one  of  the  central  committee  that  carries  on  the 
canvass  in  the  absence  of  your  standard-bearers  ;  and 
you  were  one  of  the  orators  of  the  party.  No,  sir, 
you  were  not_a  private  citizen  in  1863.  You  were 
one  of  the  leading  and  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  your 
party  in  that  year,  speaking  through  the  months  of 
July,  August,  September,  and  October,  in  behalf  of  the 
candidate  of  the  peace  party.  You  cannot  escape  as  a 
private  citizen. 

"  Well,  sir,  in  the  beginning  of  that  eventful  year, 
there  rises  in  Congress  the  ablest  member  of  the  peaco 


AID  AND   COMFORT   TO  THE  ENEMY.  169 

party,  to  advise  Congress  and  to  advise  the  people,  and 
what  does  he  say  ? 

"  *  You  have  not  conquered  the  South.  You  never 
will.  It  is  not  in  the  nature  of  things  possible,  espe 
cially  under  your  auspices.  Money  you  have  expended 
without  limit ;  blood  you  have  poured  out  like  water.' 

"  Now,  mark  the  taunt  —  the  words  of  discourage 
ment  that  were  sent  to  the  people  and  to  the  army  of 
the  Union  :  — 

" 4  Defeat,  debt,  taxation,  sepulchres,  these  are  your 
trophies.  Can  you  get  men  to  enlist  now  at  any 
price  ? ' 

"  Listen  again  to  the  words  that  were  sent  to  the 
army  and  to  the  loyal  people :  — 

" '  Ah,  sir,  it  is  easier  to  die  at  home.' 

"  We  knew  that,  Judge  Thurman,  better  than  Mr. 
Vallandighatn  knew  it.  We  had  seen  our  comrades 
falling  and  dying  alone  on  the  mountain  side  and  in  the 
swamps  —  dying  in  the  prison-pens  of  the  Confederacy 
and  in  the  crowded  hospitals,  North  and  South.  Yet 
he  had  the  face  to  stand  up  in  Congress,  and  say  to  the 
people  and  the  world,  '  Ah,  sir,  it  is  easier  to  die  at 
home/  Judge  Thurman,  where  are  you  at  this  time  ? 
He  goes  to  Columbus  to  the  State  convention,  on  the 
llth  of  June  of  that  year,  in  all  the  capacities  in  which 
I  have  named  him  —  as  a  delegate,  as  committee-man, 
and  as  an  orator  —  and  he  spends  that  whole  summer 
in  advocating  the  election  of  the  man  who  taunted  us 
with  the  words,  'Defeat,  debt,  taxation,  sepulchres, 
these  are  your  trophies/  " 


170         MUTATO  NOMINE,  DE  TE,   MR.  TILDEN  ! 

Was  it  Mr.  Thurman,  or  was  it  really  Mr.  Tilden 
whom  General  Hayes  meant  ?  And  is  it  really  of  Mr. 
Thurman  that  he  goes  on  to  speak  ? 

"  This,  my  friends,  is  a  part  of  that  record  which  we 
are  invited  to  examine  by  my  friend,  Judge  Thurman. 
I  ask  you  to  apply  to  it  the  principle  that  whoever, 
during  the  great  struggle,  was  unfaithful  to  the  cause 
of  the  country  is  not  to  be  trusted  to  be  one  of  the 
men  to  harvest  and  secure  the  legitimate  fruits  of  the 
victory  which  the  Union  people  and  the  Union  army 
won  during  the  rebellion.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  not  worth  while  now  to  consider,  or  undertake 
to  predict,  when  we  shall  cease  to  talk  of  the  records  of 
those  men.  It  does  seem  to  me  that  it  will  for  many 
years  to  come  be  the  voice  of  the  Union  people  of  the 
State  that  for  a  man  who  as  a  leader  —  as  a  man  having 
control  in  political  affairs  —  that  for  such  a  man,  who 
has  opposed  the  interests  of  his  country  during  the  war, 
*  the  post  of  honor  is  the  private  station.'  When  shall 
we  stop  talking  about  it  ?  When  ought  we  to  stop 
talking  about  that  record,  when  leading  men  come  be 
fore  the  people  ?  Certainly  not  until  every  question 
arising  out  of  the  rebellion,  and  every  question  which  is 
akin  to  the  questions  which  made  the  rebellion,  is  set 
tled.  Perhaps  these  men  will  be  remembered  long  after 
these  questions  are  settled ;  perhaps  their  conduct  will 
long  be  remembered.  What  was  the  result  of  this  ad 
vice  to  the  people  ?  It  prolonged  the  war ;  it  made  it 
impossible  to  get  recruits ;  it  made  it  necessary  that  we 
should  have  drafts.  They  opposed  the  drafts,  and  that 


A  POLITICIAN   "  WISE  WITHOUT   A   PLAN."      171 

made  rioting,  which  required  that  troops  should  be  called 
from  all  the  armies  in  the  field  to  preserve  the  peace 
at  home.  From  forty  to  a  hundred  thousand  men  in 
the  different  States  of  this  Union  were  kept  within  the 
loyal  States  to  perserve  the  peace  at  home.  And  now, 
when  they  talk  to  you  about  the  debt  and  about  the 
burden  of  taxation,  remember  how  it  happened  that  the 
war  was  so  prolonged,  that  it  was  so  expensive,  and 
that  the  debt  grew  to  such  large  proportions." 

As  a  politician,  in  the  sense  of  a  successful  candidate 
for  office,  Hayes  has  been,  as  Mr.  Lowell  says  of  Lin 
coln,  "  wise  without  a  plan."  His  only  schemes,  prac 
ticed  after  he  came  to  power,  have  been  for  the  public 
advantage.  How  to  come  to  power  never  gave  him  an 
hour's  unrest.  It  would  be  idle  to  pretend  that  such  a 
man  has  not  felt  honored  by  the  honors  done  him ;  he  is 
neither  so  ungrateful,  so  obtuse,  nor  so  arrogant  as  not 
to  have  deeply  felt  them;  but  he  has  always  felt  that 
honesty  was  better  than  honor,  and  he  has  never  sought 
the  one  at  the  cost  of  the  other ;  he  has  asked  no  favors 
and  has  used  no  arts. 

As  a  public  orator,  a  speaker  for  occasions,  Hayes 
has  little  of  the  ready  eloquence  that  goes  to  the  mak 
ing  of  a  brilliant  speech.  His  political  and  legal  argu 
ments  strike  us  as  far  better,  with  their  weighty  and 
solid  movement,  their  stalwart  grace,  their  deep  con 
viction  just  touched  and  not  more  than  touched  with 
poetry.  Yet  even  in  those  slighter  efforts  in  which  he 
does  not  shine,  he  satisfies  with  his  sense  and  serious 
fitness.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  little  speech  made  at 


172  HAYES  AS  AN   ORATOR. 

the  dedication  of  the  beautiful  Davidson  fountain  iu 
Cincinnati  :  — 

"  FELLOW  CITIZENS,  —  It  is  altogether  fitting  that 
the  citizens  of  Cincinnati  should  feel  a  deep  interest  in 
the  occasion  which  has  called  together  this  large  assem 
blage.  It  is  well  to  do  honor  to  this  noble  gift,  and  to 
do  honor  to  the  generous  giver.  This  work  lends  a 
new  charm  to  the  whole  city. 

"  Longfellow's  lines  in  praise  of  the  Catawba  that 
grows  on  the  banks  of  the  Beautiful  River  give  to  the 
Catawba  a  finer  flavor,  and  render  the  Beautiful  River 
still  more  beautiful.  When  art  and  genius  give  to  us 
in  marble  or  on  canvas  the  features  of  those  we  admire 
or  love,  ever  afterward  we  discover  in  their  faces  and 
in  their  characters  more  to  admire  and  more  to  love. 

"  This  work  makes  Cincinnati  a  pleasauter  city,  her 
homes  more  happy,  her  aims  worthier,  and  her  future 
brighter. 

"  But  this  fountain  does  not  pour  out  its  blessings 
for  Cincinnati,  or  for  her  visitors  and  guests  alone. 
Cincinnati  is  one  of  the  central  cities  of  the  nation  — 
of  the  great  continent.  It  is  becoming  the  convention 
city.  Witness  the  national  assemblies  in  the  interest  of 
commerce,  of  industry,  of  education,  of  benevolence,  of 
progress,  of  religion,  which  annually  gather  here  from 
the  most  distant  parts  of  America.  This  monument  is 
an  instructor  of  all  who  come.  Whoever  beholds  it 
will  carry  away  some  part  of  the  lesson  it  teaches. 
The  duty  which  the  citizen  owes  to  the  community  in 
which  and  by  which  he  has  prospered,  that  duty  this 


DUTY   OF  RICH  MEN  TO  THE   PUBLIC.          173 

work  will  forever  teach.  No  rich  man  who  is  wise 
will,  in  the  presence  of  this  example,  willingly  go  to 
his  grave  with  his  debt  to  the  public  unpaid  and  unpro 
vided  for.  Many  a  last  will  and  testament  will  have 
a  beneficent  codicil,  suggested  by  the  work  we  inaugu 
rate  to-day.  Parks,  fountains,  schools,  galleries  of  art, 
libraries,  hospitals,  churches,  whatever  benefits  and  ele 
vates  mankind,  will  here  receive  much  needed  encour 
agement  and  support. 

"  This  work  says  to  him  who,  with  anxious  toil  and 
care,  has  successfully  gathered  and  hoarded,  Do  not 
neglect  your  great  opportunity.  Divide  wisely  and 
equitably  between  the  few  who  are  most  nearly  of  your 
own  blood,  and  the  many  who  in  kinship  are  only  a 
little  farther  removed.  If  you  regard  only  those 
reared  under  your  own  roof,  your  cherished  estate  will 
soon  be  scattered,  perhaps  wasted  by  profligate  heirs  in 
riotous  living,  to  their  own  ruin,  and  you  and  your  for 
tune  will  quickly  be  forgotten.  Give  a  share,  pay  a 
tithe,  to  your  more  distant  and  more  numerous  kindred 
—  to  the  general  public,  and  you  will  be  gratefully  re 
membered,  and  mankind  will  be  blessed  by  your  having 
lived ! 

"  Many,  reflecting  on  the  uncertainty  of  the  future, 
will  prefer  to  see  their  benefactions  distributed  and  ap 
plied  while  they  are  still  living.  Regarding  their  ob 
ligations  to  the  public  as  sacred  debts,  they  will  wish  to 
pay  as  they  go.  This  is  commendable.  Perhaps  it  is 
safest. 

"  But  at  some  time  and  somehow  the  example  here 


174  A  TOUCHING   SPEECH. 

presented  will  and  must  be  followed.  All  such  deeds 
are  the  parents  of  other  similar  good  deeds.  And  so 
the  circle  within  which  the  blessings  flowing  from  this 
fountain  are  enjoyed  will  forever  grow  wider  and 
wider,  and  the  people  of  distant  times  and  places  will 
rejoice  to  drink,  as  we  now  do,  healthful  and  copious 
draughts  in  honor  of  its  founder." 

A  far  nobler  effort,  one  that  has  deeply  impressed 
us  with  the  strange  qualities  of  its  power,  is  the  address 
which  Hayes  delivered  at  the  dedication  of  a  soldiers' 
monument  in  Findlay,  Ohio,  last  year.  Here,  perhaps 
more  strongly  than  anywhere  else,  his  manner  has  re 
minded  us  of  that  of  Lincoln  ;  yet  Lincoln's  eloquence 
had  much  more  of  the  oratorical  movement.  In  this 
singularly  touching  speech  of  Hayes's,  there  is  no  art. 
It  is  almost  as  helpless  in  this  respect  as  the  utterance 
of  some  able,  slow-languaged  Englishman.  The  dic 
tion  in  the  most  pathetic  passages  is  plain  and  blunt  al 
most  to  uncouthness ;  yet  word  by  word  the  speaker 
draws  nearer  to  you  till,  as  if  in  the  silence  of  the 
pathos-stricken  crowd,  you  seem  to  hear  the  very 
throbbing  of  his  heart.  It  is  the  supreme  triumph  of 
pure  and  deep  feeling  that  will  have  none  but  the 
simplest  expression. 

"  I  know  not,"  he  said,  speaking  of  the  fallen  sol 
diers,  "  how  many  of  them  have  been  gathered  into  the 
cemeteries  near  their  home  ;  I  know  not  how  many 
others  have  been  gathered  into  the  beautiful  national 
cemeteries  near  the  great  battle-fields ;  I  know  not  how 
many  are  lying  in  swamps,  along  the  mountain-sides. 


HOW   SOLDIERS   WERE   BURIED.  175 

in  nameless  graves,  the  unknown  heroes  of  the  Union : 
but  wherever  they  are,  and  however  many  there  may 
be,  you  people  of  Hancock  County  have  erected  your 
monument  to  all  who  fell,  who  left  your  county.  All 
soldiers,  I  am  sure,  feel  like  thanking  you  for  this.  I 
remember  well  that  one  of  the  saddest  days  of  my  life 
was  after  one  of  our  great  battles  in  the  early  period 
of  the  war.  Recovering  from  wounds,  with  other  com 
rades  who  had  been  wounded  there,  we  passed  near  the 
battle-field,  as  soon  as  we  felt  able  to  do  so  ;  and,  when 
we  came  there,  what  did  we  learn  ?  Passing  up  the 
mountain,  charging  the  line  of  the  enemy,  they  fell  ; 
and  everywhere  were  the  shallow  graves  in  which  were 
deposited  the  remains  of  our  seven  hundred  companions 
who  had  fallen.  And  how  were  they  buried  ?  and  how 
was  their  last  resting-place  marked  ?  Hastily,  tenderly, 
no  doubt,  the  parties  detailed  to  bury  them  had  gath 
ered  up  their  remains.  You  soldiers  know  how  it  was 
done.  They  placed  upon  the  face  of  each  man  who 
died,  whenever  they  could  ascertain  his  name,  a  piece  of 
an  envelope,  or  a  scrap  of  a  letter,  or  something  of  the 
kind,  containing  his  name,  his  company,  his  regiment, 
fastening  it  there,  hoping  that  some  day  his  friends 
might  come  and  find  him,  and  learn  who  was  there 
buried.  And  then,  you  remember,  there  were  no  coffins, 
nothing  of  the  sort ;  but  they  took  the  blue  overcoat, 
and  placed  it  around  the  man,  and  took  the  cape,  and, 
bringing  it  over  the  face,  fastened  it  down.  This  was 
his  shroud  ;  this  was  his  coffin  ;  and  he  was  placed  away 
to  rest  until  the  resurrection  morn.  That  was  the  man- 


176 

ner  of  his  burial.  And  strange,  I  may  say,  was  the  re 
sult  of  that  woollen  material  over  the  face :  saturated 
with  water,  and  covered  with  the  earth,  it  did  so  protect 
them  from  decay,  that  months  afterwards  many  were 
recognized  by  their  friends,  preserved  as  they  were  by 
the  overcoat  cape.  And  how  was  the  grave  marked  ? 
With  a  pencil  they  scratched  upon  a  piece  of  pine 
board  —  a  thin  piece  of  cracker-box  —  the  name  and 
company,  which  was  placed  at  the  grave.  This  was  all 
then ;  and  we  did  not  know  what  the  result  would  be. 
We  did  not  know  what  friends  would  do,  what  monu 
ments  would  be  reared. 

"  As  we  left  that  field,  talking  to  each  other,  we  said 
there  must  be  a  soldiers'  monument  for  the  soldiers  of 
our  regiment.  I  would  not  claim  that  this  was  the  first 
regiment  that  built  a  monument ;  that  the  twenty-third 
Ohio,  to  which  I  had  the  honor  to  belong,  built  the 
first  monument :  but  I  will  say  it  was  the  first  I  heard 
of.  After  the  famous  An  tie  tarn  campaign  was  fought, 
we  called  the  men  together,  —  four  hundred  and  fifty 
or  five  hundred  men,  —  and  from  the  scanty  pay  which 
was  to  support  the  men,  and  to  some  extent  their  fami 
lies,  the  majority  of  the  remainder  subscribed  at  least 
one  dollar,  and  others  more,  according  to  their  ability, 
and  raised  in  the  regiment  two  thousand  dollars  to 
build  a  monument,  on  which,  it  was  agreed,  should  be 
inscribed  the  name  of  every  man  in  the  regiment  who 
had  fallen,  and  every  man  who  should  fall  during  the 
continuance  of  the  war.  We  had  it  placed  in  the 
cemetery  at  Cleveland,  where  more  of  our  number 


WHAT   THE   SOLDIERS   DIED   FOR.  177 

came  from  than  from  any  other  place.  Many  a  monu 
ment  has  been  built  since,  far  grander  than  that,  taller, 
and  finer,  and  more  expensive ;  but  that,  so  far  as  I 
know,  was  the  first  soldiers'  monument. 

"  We  are  glad  to  know  that  you  of  Hancock  County 
have  not  neglected  your  duty  in  that  regard.  You 
mean  that  those  men  shall  have  their  monument,  and 
be  remembered  forever.  It  will  be  a  monument  that 
will  have  its  value  to  you  and  your  children.  It  will  be 
an  instructor,  a  teacher  of  lessons  to  all  who  look  on  it. 
What  is  it  ?  Why  did  these  men  perish  ?  Why  was 
this  monument  built  ?  Here  is  a  great  nation  :  here  is 
a  country  stretching  from  ocean  to  ocean,  over  the  fin 
est  part  of  the  best  continent  on  the  globe.  On  the 
day  that  they  volunteered,  the  only  enemy  that  the 
American  nation  could  know,  could  fear,  could  dread, 
was  in  war  against  us.  We  cared  nothing  for  foreign 
nations ;  they  were  too  far,  too  distant ;  and  anyway, 
with  the  North  and  South  united,  as  I  believe  they  now 
are,  in  feeling,  we  can  meet  the  world  in  arms  against 
us.  A  bouse  divided  against  itself  —  there  was  the 
danger ;  and  that  was  the  danger  that  these  men  went 
out  to  meet.  And  now,  how  is  it  to-day  ?  How  stands 
the  matter  now  ?  We  know  every  acre  of  that  beauti 
ful  land  belongs  only  to  the  stars  and  stripes,  and  be 
longs  to  the  flag  forever. 

"  And  not  only  that  lesson  does  it  teach ;  but  it 
teaches,  also,  that  this  Union  is  dedicated  to  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  hardly 
know  what  others  may  think  about  that ;  but  I  believe 


178  QUALITY    OF  OUR   SOLDIERS. 

that  in  fifty  years  past  there  never  was  a  time  when 
there  was  that  prospect  of  complete  and  enduring  har* 
mony  among  all  classes  of  people,  in  all  sections  of  this 
country,  that  there  is  to-day.  Why,  think  of  it !  On 
the  17th  of  June,  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  we  had  Maryland  Confederate 
regiments  and  soldiers  saluting  —  in  the  streets  of  Bos 
ton,  and  on  Boston  Common  and  Bunker  Hill  —  the 
men  of  Massachusetts :  we  had  South  Carolina  and 
Massachusetts  shoulder  to  shoulder,  as  in  the  days 
when  their  fathers  beat  the  British  a  hundred  years 
ago.  All  this,  I  think,  is  due,  in  a  great  measure, 
to  the  success  of  our  men  to  whom  this  monument  is 
erected,  and  their  comrades  in  other  States  and  other 
organizations,  living  and  dead.  Think  of  the  men 
themselves  who  were  there,  —  citizen  soldiers,  not  one, 
perhaps,  of  whom,  was  ever*  acquainted  with  war,  or 
ever  bred  to  war.  Here  and  there  one  had  been  in  the 
Mexican  war  ;  here  and  there  one  had  been  in  some 
Indian  war  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  they  all  came  from  civil 
life :  they  all  came  from  where  they  were  sovereigns, 
to  be,  for  three  years,  obedient  to  men  who  were  not 
better  than  themselves. 

"  Why,  they  tell  us  our  bayonets  could  think.  Yes, 
and  often  and  often  it  was  the  glory,  in  my  judgment, 
of  the  private  soldier  that  the  bayonet  thought  more 
truly,  more  wisely,  more  accurately,  than  the  sword. 
A  celebrated  English  statesman  said,  *  I  can  understand 
why  these  Americans,  to  the  number  of  millions,  rushed 
to  arms  to  defend  the  government  they  had  made. 


LESSONS  OF   THE   MONUMENT.  179 

There  is  no  mystery  in  that.  Now,  I  do  not  under 
stand  how  it  was,  that,  at  the  end  of  that  war,  a  million 
of  men  quietly  disbanded,  and  returned  to  the  walks  of 
peaceful  life,  and  went  back  about  their  old  occupa 
tions,  and  became  again  good  citizens.'  There  was  one 
great  advantage  we  had,  —  a  people  so  educated,  and 
so  intelligent  in  all  classes,  that  we  could  raise  an  army 
of  that  sort. 

"  Our  monument,  then,  stands  and  teaches  us  of  the 
importance  of  the  Union,  the  importance  of  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  im 
portance  of  universal  education.  My  friends,  what  is 
a  monument,  however  costly  and  beautiful,  if  it  does 
not  teach  us  some  of  the  duties  of  practical  life,  how 
the  living  shall  deal  with  the  living  ?  When  you  shall 
see  the  widows  of  the  soldiers,  the  parents  and  orphans 
of  the  soldiers,  every  man  whose  heart  is  in  the  right 
place  feels  his  sympathies  warmed  towards  them.  There 
is  no  .doubt  as  to  that,  I  am  sure,  in  any  Christian  com 
munity.  But  there  is  another  lesson.  The  men  who 
fell,  the  men  who  lost  an  arm  or  leg,  the  widows  and 
orphans  who  are  left,  are  not  the  only  victims  of  the 
war.  There  must  always  be  another  class.  "We  rejoice 
to  know  that  the  great  body  of  young  men  who  went 
out  to  the  war  returned  to  their  homes,  more  manly, 
braver,  and  better  than  when  they  left  them,  but  they 
were  gone,  many  of  them,  at  the  critical  period  of  life, 
from  sixteen  to  twenty  years  of  age,  just  the  period 
when  they  must  learn  habits  of  thrift,  and  the  knowledge 
of  occupations  and  trades  that  shall  enable  them  to  get 


180  HAYES  AS  A  SOLDIER. 

that  independence  which  every  man  in  America  ought 
to  have  or  try  to  have.  They  were  during  that  period 
in  the  army  ;  and  some  came  back  with  habits  to  which 
we  regret  to  allude.  But,  my  friends,  when  we  look  at 
that  monument,  we  should  be  reminded  that  that  man 
who  may  have  thus  formed  any  pernicious  habits  in  the 
army  is  always  one  of  the  victims  of  the  war.  He  has 
lost  that  which  is  better  than  life  in  trying  to  save  the 
republic.  Avert  not  your  gaze,  patriotic  men,  from 
that  man.  Lift  him  up,  help  him,  never  give  him  up. 
Give  him  occupation,  give  him  good  words ;  save  him,  if 
you  can.  At  any  rate,  treat  him  as  one  of  the  victims 
of  the  war." 

What  Hayes  was  as  a  soldier,  the  reader  can  best 
learn  from  his  history  in  the  war  —  a  history  only  too 
slightly  and  inadequately  sketched  in  these  pages.  To 
his  regiment  he  was  one  of  the  good  colonels,  and  to  his 
brigade  one  of  the  good  generals,  looking  to  the  com 
fort,  the  health,  the  honor,  and  the  morality  of  his  men 
with  literally  the  same  studied  care,  the  same  enlight 
ened  vigilance,  that  a  father  bestows  upon  his  children ; 
and  in  return  he  enjoyed  from  them  a  devotion  that 
knew  no  limit;  wherever  he  led  they  followed ;  what 
ever  he  said  they  did.  A  private  of  the  twenty-third, 
writing  of  his  colonel,  says:  "A  braver  or  better  man 
was  not  in  the  army.  He  had  an  abundance  of  grit. 
If  he  had  a  fault,  it  was  that  in  battle  he  was  too  eager. 
On  a  long,  dusty  march  I  could  always  tell  Colonel 
Hayes's  horse,  as  it  was  always  loaded  with  the  guns 
and  knapsacks  of  '  the  boys '  who  were  giving  out,  the 


A  FELLOW-OFFICER'S  OPINION.  181 

colonel  himself  walking  by  its  side,  no  matter  how  great 
the  heat.  Yes,  sir,  he  was  a  kind  man,  but  we  had  to 
do  our  whole  duty  as  soldiers." 

When  he  was  removed  from  the  command  of  the  first 
brigade,  "  The  boys  looked  upon  you,"  wrote  one  of  his 
officers,  "  more  in  the  light  of  a  father  than  a  military 
commander,  and  while  we  all  regret  that  old  associa 
tions  must  be  broken  off,  yet  we  feel  assured  that  what 
ever  station  you  may  be  called  upon  to  fill  in  the  future, 
you  will  acquit  yourself  with  like  honors  to  those  now 
attending  you  as  the  commander  of  the  old  first  brig 
ade." 

The  testimony  of  officers  and  those  competent  to 
judge  of  his  professional  qualities  as  a  soldier,  is  of  but 
one  effect.  "  In  military  life,"  writes  General  Comly, 
who  served  under  him  throughout  the  war,  and  was 
himself  a  soldier  of  heroic  temper  and  achievement, 
"  he  was  noted  among  army  men  for  his  coolness,  firm 
ness,  and  daring.  No  emergency  ever  came  upon  him 
that  he  was  not  equal  to.  The  West  Point  men  re 
garded  him  as  one  of  the  very  best  officers  in  the  vol 
unteer  service,  and  attributed  to  him  a  very  high  order 
of  military  genius.  His  courage,  though  of  the  most 
undemonstrative  sort,  was  absolutely  sublime,  and  was 
attested  by  three  or  four  wounds  received  in  the  very 
front  of  battle.  His  charge  at  Winchester,  where  he 
led  his  brigade  through  a  deep  slough  in  the  face  of 
the  enemy,  plunging  his  horse  into  the  mire  up  to  the 
saddle-bow,  and  being  the  first  man  over,  though  a  per 
fect  storm  of  bullets  swept  about  him,  was  scarcely  ex- 


182        AN  EASTERN  WEST   POINTER'S   OPINION. 

celled  during  the  whole  war  as  a  feat  of  personal 
daring.  Yet  this  was  but  one  incident  of  a  dozen  sim 
ilar  ones  in  his  army  career  that  might  be  named.  Had 
he  been  as  clamorous  for  promotion,  and  as  impatient 
for  popular  appreciation  as  some  officers  were,  he  would 
have  been  placed  at  the  head  of  a  corps,  or  one  of  the 
grand  armies,  instead  of  a  division." 

Not  only  do  Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  and  all  the 
other  great  Ohio  soldiers  of  West  Point  education,  or 
of  native  military  genius  developed  in  the  volunteer 
service,  esteem  and  praise  his  soldiership,  but  wherever 
scientific  soldiers  of  Eastern  origin  came  in  contact  with 
him  they  acknowledged  his  capacity  and  power.  We 
have  just  been  shown  a  private  letter  from  a  New  En 
gland  officer,  a  general  of  volunteers  in  West  Virginia, 
a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and  now  holding  very  high 
rank  in  the  regular  army,  who  speaks  of  Hayes  in  terms 
no  less  cordial  and  unstinted  than  these  :  — 

"  September  4,  1876. 

"  I  am  glad  to  assure  you,  not  only  of  my  full  and 
undoubted  conviction  of  the  success  of  General  Hayes, 
but  still  more  the  further  conviction  that  from  week  to 
week  comes  over  me,  that  he  as  fully  merits  that  suc 
cess.  And  though  I  was  not  so  much  brought  in  con 
tact  with  him  as  if  he  had  been  in  my  own  brigade,  I 
recollect  very  distinctly  his  quiet,  unobtrusive,  gentle 
manly  manner,  and  his  faithful  attention  to  duty  in  the 
West  Virginia  campaign,  from  Carnifex  Ferry  to  its 
close.  It  was  of  the  same  iypc  exactly  with  the  modest 


THE  SAME  TYPE   OF  SOLDIER  AS   THOMAS.     183 

worth    and   quiet,    reserved  power    of    Grant  and  of 

Thomas,  since  so  well  known  to  the  country I 

firmly  believe  his   administration  is   to  be  our  political 
and  national  salvation. 

"  I  have  always  felt  that  the  daily  letters,  the  record 
of  events  written  at  the  time  by  those  engaged  in  them, 
were  the  most  valuable  papers  ever  to  be  had,  either  as 
to  the  truth  of  the  events  or  to  show  the  characters  of 
the  writers  ;  and  I  doubt  not  the  most  interesting  and 
important  articles  for  the  national  (I  do  not  call  it  polit 
ical)  contest  now  coming  on  will  be  those  which  give 
most  fully  the  very  words  and  thoughts  of  the  moment 
(as  the  great  events  of  the  war  were  passing),  of  this 
brave,  honest  man,  whom  the  people  will  delight  to 
honor,  as  his  fellow  soldiers  now  do;  this  modest 
Bayard,  in  war  or  in  peace  —  as  the  whole  country 
finds,  and  will  ever  find  —  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche" 

It  is  superfluous  to  multiply  these  testimonies,  as  we 
might  to  any  extent,  from  rank  and  file  alike.  They 
are  as  unanimous  —  a  hater  of  Aristides  might  say  as 
monotonous — as  the  witnesses  to  the  purity,  efficiency, 
and  economy  of  Hayes's  civil  administrations.  What  his 
character  as  a  congressman  was,  we  have  already  seen  ; 
and  as  governor  of  a  great  State  we  have  allowed  him 
to  speak  for  himself  in  extracts  from  his  messages.  On 
some  points  he  was  necessarily  silent.  He  could  not 
say  what  we  know  from  examination  of  his  letters 
and  diaries,  that  his  smallest  official  act  followed  only 
upon  the  most  careful  and  conscientious  deliberation. 
His  appointments  have  been  made  after  the  closest 


184         HIS  IDEAS   OF    A   GOVERNOR'S  DUTIES. 

possible  inquiry  into  the  character  and  qualifications  of 
the  persons  appointed  ;  and  no  fault  has  been  found 
with  them  except  by  Republicans  who  have  blamed  him 
for  the  impartiality  with  which  he  has  named  Democrats 
for  places  in  which  he  judged  that  purely  partisan  ap 
pointments  might  be  to  the  public  disadvantage.  We 
have  yet  to  know  of  a  single  instance  in  which  that 
eminent  civil  service  reformer,  Mr.  Tilden,  has  laid 
himself  open  to  reproach  by  giving  office  to  a  political 
opponent. 

As  governor,  Hayes  has  conceived  it  his  business  to 
attend  to  State  affairs,  and  only  to  notice  national  ques 
tions  as  they  concern  citizens  of  Ohio.  He  has  not 
been  putting  out  feelers  for  the  presidency,  nor  manu 
facturing  a  reputation  on  which  he  could  lift  himself 
into  partisan  prominence  ;  and  he  has  not,  like  Gov 
ernor  Tilden,  lugged  into  his  messages  the  discussion  of 
every  sort  of  .irrelevant  affair.  He  has  applied  himself 
closely  to  the  study  of  the  sources  of  Ohio's  prosperity, 
and  probably  no  man  in  the  State  knows  them  so  well 
as  he.  A  gentleman  who  recently  talked  with  him  on 
such  matters  confessed  his  astonishment  at  the  extent 
and  minuteness  of  his  knowledge  relating  to  the  agri 
culture,  manufactures,  and  mines  of  the  State ;  but 
Hayes  seemed  to  think  it  was  part  of  his  duty,  as  the 
first  citizen,  to  be  second  to  none  in  this  knowledge. 

He  has  not  only  bestowed  unusual  attention  upon 
the  condition  of  the  asylums  and  prisons,  but  he  has 
been  extremely  careful  in  the  exercise  of  the  pardon 
ing  power.  whi«-h  he  has  used  according  to  principles 


HIS  TEMPER  AS   A  EULER.  185 

arrived  at  through  diligent  study  of  the  results  in  cases 
coming  within  his  own  experience  or  observation.  In 
clining  always  towards  mercy,  he  has  suffered  no  per 
sonal  feeling  to  cloud  his  judgment  in  such  matters, 
and  in  more  public  affairs,  involving  disturbances  of 
order  or  violations  of  law,  he  has  acted  with  instant 
vigor.  His  promptness  in  quelling  the  riots  of  the 
striking  coal-miners  in  Ohio,  during  the  present  year, 
is  an  earnest  of  what  his  action  would  be  on  a  larger 
theatre  in  any  greater  emergency,  and  the  following 
letter  to  his  adjutant- general,  who  was  sent  with  troops 
to  crush  out  the  riots,  shows  the  temper  of  a  ruler  not 
disposed  to  dally  with  his  duty,  or  to  address  a  murder 
ous  mob  as  his  "  friends." 

DEAR  GENERAL,  —  I  still  feel  that  there  is  doubt 
as  to  the  sufficiency  of  your  force.  Be  sure  to  have  it 
ample.  If  you  call  out  too  many  men,  I  will  be  re 
sponsible,  but  if  you  fail  for  want  of  enough,  it  will 
be  your  fault.  It  now  looks  as  if  this  trouble  would 
last  a  long  time.  I  wish  you  to  make  preparations  to 
hold  your  men  in  camp  near  Massillon,  until  all  danger 
from  lawless  violence  is  at  an  end ;  therefore  let  your 
arrangements  be  of  a  more  permanent  character ;  let 
it  be  understood  that  you  mean  to  stay  until  lawless 
ness  ceases,  or  is  plainly  controllable  by  the  civil  au 
thorities.  Sincerely  yours,  R.  B.  HAYES. 

"  Hayes's  capacity  for  civil  affairs,"  says  a  journal 
ist  of  the  State  which  knows  him  best,  "has  been 


186        HAYES'S  RECORD  WITHOUT  A  FLAW. 

severely  tested,  and  the  tests  have  developed  executive 
abilities  of  the  very  highest  order.  With  a  rare  knowl 
edge  of  men  and  affairs,  he  has  shown  a  genius  for 
doing  the  right  thing  in  the  right  way  and  at  the  right 
time.  In  prudence,  moderation,  and  sturdy  good  sense, 
he  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  Abraham  Lincoln, 
as  he  does  also  in  his  simplicity,  and  keen,  almost  un 
erring  sagacity.  Few  men  have,  with  such  caution, 
such  strength  of  will  and  power  of  decision." 

Not  more,  but  not  less  valuable  than  the  praise  of  an 
impartial  friend,  is  that  of  an  impartial  enemy,  and  Mr. 
Dana,  of  the  "New  York  Sun,"  may  now  speak  for 
the  man  whose  defeat  he  desires.:  — 

"  Hayes  is  a  man  of  talent ;  he  is  a  gentleman  ;  he 
is  rich  and  independent ;  he  served  with  credit  as  a 
soldier  in  the  war,  and  his  record  as  governor  of  Ohio 
is  without  flaw  or  spot." 

Of  Hayes  as  a  citizen  and  a  man,  what  remains  to  be 
said  ?  Nothing  truly  that  will  not  make  him  even  more 
hateful  to  those  already  weary  of  hearing  Aristides 
called  just.  Some  of  his  moral  and  intellectual  quali 
ties  have  been  admirably  given  by  an  old  acquaintance 
of  his  in  a  letter  printed  by  "  The  Nation."  "  He  is 
not  a  '  magnetic '  man ;  he  is  not  audacious,  he  is  not  a 
'  leader,'  he  does  not  impress  one  as  a  great  force,  and 
all  that.  But  when  he  has  a  duty  to  perform  he  first 
proceeds  to  throw  aside  all  nonsense,  and,  with  a  pecul 
iar  singleness  and  simplicity,  sees  just  what  the  matter 
is.  After  that,  the  devil  can't  scare  him.  I  never 
knew  a  man  who  listened  with  a  franker  willingness  to 


HAYES'S  INTELLECTUAL  "  COLOR."         187 

learn,  and  I  have  known  very  few  men  who  were  so 
sure  to  end  with  an  opinion  of  their  own,  which  nothing 
could  shake.  I  observe  that  the  little  people  of  the 
*  Herald '  and  '  World  '  speak  of  him  as  a  '  colorless  ' 
candidate.  Well,  his  color  is  not  loud,  but  what  they 
actually  mean  is  nonsense.  They  had  better  encounter 
him  some  time  when  he  has  a  duty  to  perform,  and  try 
to  turn  him  aside,  and  then  tell  us  whether  he  has  color. 
I  have  seen  him  tried,  and  noticed  that  his  color  was  a 

good  deal  like  steel I  need  say  nothing  about 

his  honesty ;  you  've  seen  that  mentioned  by  every 
paper  that  names  him,  though  perhaps  I  had  as  well 
add  that  he  is  just  absolute  integrity.  My  main  pur 
pose  was  to  speak  of  his  capabilities,  since  that  must  be 
the  chief  point  of  curiosity  just  now.  For  whatever  it 
is  worth,  my  clear  conviction  is  that  he  is  a  very  able 
man,  very  well  informed,  of  a  good  deal  of  culture,  of 
rare  soundness  of  judgment,  and  of  a  courageous  and 
high  character." 

Mr.  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  a  friend  of  equally  long 
standing  with  the  writer  of  the  foregoing,  has  published 
his  impressions  of  Hayes's  character  in  a  letter  to  the 
"  Boston  Advertiser,"  from  which  we  transcribe  a  few 
passages :  — 

"Mr.  Hayes  has  a  calm,  cool,  intellectual  temper 
ament,  which  is  not  easily  roused,  but  which  when 
roused,  moves  promptly  and  with  singular  precision. 
He  has  a  clear,  judicial  intellect.  He  is  not  want 
ing  in  enthusiasm,  but  he  never  gushes.  There  is  a 
certain  magnanimity,  a  stately  and  dignified  repose  of 


188         MORAL  AND  INTELLECTUAL   QUALITIES. 

character,  which  nuderlies  his  frank  and  genial  tem 
per,  and  which  keeps  his  generous  impulses  from  run 
ning  away  with  him.  He  is  always  and  everywhere 
a  gentleman.  During  our  six  or  seven  years  of  weekly 
meetings,1  I  never  knew  him  to  use  a  harsh  or  coarse 
expression,  nor  ever  knew  him  to  indulge  in  a  per 
sonality.  He  never  made  an  enemy,  nor  lost  a  friend. 
Nothing  sordid  or  selfish  was  ever  associated  with  his 
character.  Always  cheerful,  kind,  frank,  and  sym 
pathetic,  he  took  a  keen  interest  in  every  question, 
and  occasionally  spoke,  when  roused,  effectively  and  to 
the  purpose.  But  he  seldom  was  roused  to  speak  ex 
cept  in  conversation.  There  he  was  always  ready, 
bright,  and  animated.  It  was  a  common  remark  in 
those  days,  at  the  club,  *  Hayes  is  capable  of  rising  to 
any  distinction,  if  he  could  only  be  impelled  to  seek  it.' 
But  he  seemed  totally  devoid  of  personal  ambition,  and 
unwilling  to  take  any  of  the  ordinary  steps  to  attain  no 
toriety  ;  yet  this  very  coolness  and  indifference  to  per 
sonal  aggrandizement  has  proved  the  secret  of  his  sub 
sequent  political  success.  He  has  never  sought  position. 
He  has  never  lifted  his  hand  to  become  a  candidate  for 
any  place.  The  office  has  always  sought  the  man,  not 
the  man  the  office." 

Some  reminiscences,  sketchily  jotted  down  by  an  old 
friend  of  Hayes's  college  days,  and  kindly  transferred 
to  the  present  writer  by  Mr.  J.  Q.  Howard,  for  whose 
careful  work2  they  came  too  late,  present  traits  of 

1  In  the  Cincinnati  Literary  Club. 

2  Life  of  Rutherford  B.  Hayes.     (Robert  Clarke  &  Co.,  Cincinnati.) 


HAYES  AT   COLLEGE.  189 

the  man  too  essential  to  a  good  portrait  to  be  lost.  We 
think  the  reader  will  enjoy  these  all  the  better,  if  given 
without  our  manipulation.  "  Hayes  was  the  champion 
in  college,  in  debate  class  section,  and  in  the  foot-path  ; 
cheerful,  sanguine,  and  confident  of  the  future,  never 
seeing  cause  for  desponding ;  was  a  young  man  of  sub 
stantial  physique;  in  my  whole  acquaintance,  I  never 
knew  of  his  being  sick  one  day,  and  so  free  from  any 
weakness  as  to  seem  indefatigable.  His  greatest  amuse 
ments  were  fishing  and  chess.  In  company  he  was 
humorous  to  hilarity,  told  quick,  pungent  stories,  many 
of  which  I  remember  with  laughter  to  this  day ;  took 
things  as  they  came ;  used  to  lau^h  at  the  shape  of  our 
boarding-house  roast  beef,  but  still  ate. 

"  I  grew  from  boyhood,  knowing  him  as  a  good  friend, 
to  whom  I  went  whenever  too  lazy  to  study,  or  found 
ered  by  my  problems,  and  I  always  found  help  and 
good  cheer.  Do  not  think  he  had  many  intimate 
friends ;  those  with  whom  he  was  intimate  were,  and 
are  now,  the  best  men  of  my  acquaintance.  I  don't 
remember  a  single  man  with  whom  he  was  intimate 
but  that  has  been  successful  in  his  vocation,  showing 
that  Hayes  either  had  an  intuitive  disgust  for  mean 
spirits  and  rejected  them,  or  else  changed  them.  He 
had  all  the  appearance  of  a  fighting  man,  and  I  think 
in  all  college  scrimmages  was  let  alone.  Have  often 
heard  it  said  that  he  '  did  nothing  for  his  friends ; ' 
perhaps  not,  but  his  real  friends  generally  needed  no 
help,  or  were  not  of  that  class  who  attached  themselves 
for  selfish  interests.  Even  in  his  political  labors,  I  am 


190  THOROUGHLY   INDEPENDENT. 

sure  he  never  entangled  himself  by  promises  or  by  sucli 
intimacies  as  to  bind  him,  but  never  shrank  from  tack 
ling  any  subject  or  measure  of  policy  when  brought  to 
him.  He  never  walked  around  anything,  but  took  it 
by  the  horns  and  shook  it,  or  was  shaken.  I  think  him 
a  square  specimen  of  an  Anglo-Saxon,  honest  man ; 
stubbornly  square  in  his  views ;  of  simple  ideas  of  life  ; 
that  is,  he  had  such  ideas  as  would  make  him  prefer 
heaping,  round  measure  of  good  to  pretension  and  false 
appearances. 

"  The  independence  of  his  character  was  shown  on 
commencement  day  at  Kenyon.  He  was  valedictorian, 
and  I  remember  how  grand  he  looked  in  my  boy  eyes 
because  he  was  n't  able  to  have  splendid  new  clothes, 
and  was  independent  enough  to  do  without.  That  was 
the  first  impression  made  on  my  mind,  evidencing  a 
pure,  thorough  self-sacrih'ce.  I  was  but  sixteen  years 
old,  and  think  I  see  him  now,  with  what  we  knew  then 
as  a  box-coat  with  side  pockets,  when  all  the  rest  were 
dressed  in  new  black  cloth  frock-coats. 

"I  spent  the  summer  of  1844  with  him  at  Cam 
bridge,  Mass.,  as  a  law  student ;  I  as  an  amateur  (»".  e. 
a  listener  who  never  studies),  he  as  a  regular  stu 
dent.  He  then  showed  himself  thoroughly  independent 
of  everything  and  everybody.  Judge  Story  always 
noticed  him  especially,  as  he  came  into  the  lecture 
room.  In  the  practice  of  law  his  advice  was  always 
against  litigation.  "When  offered  the  city  solicitorship, 
we  talked  it  over,  and  I  urged  him  to  take  it  for  its  in 
troduction  to  the  public.  He  always  refused  to  do  any- 


NO   ENTANGLING  ALLIANCES.  191 

thing  to  advance  his  own  interests  ;  but,  don't  try  to 
make  him  a  saint ;  he  was  n't ;  he  was  nothing  but  a 
good  honest  specimen  of  a  man. 

"  Three  months  ago  I  wrote  to  him  about  his  presi 
dential  prospects,  and  his  reply  was  emphatically,  *  I 
cannot  do  anything  to  aid  myself.'  And  on  June  7, 
1876,  he  writes,  '  I  am  luckily  constituted,  or  the  things 
you  allude  to  would  be  vexations  ;  the  truth  is,  I  am  in 
no  way  complicated,  entangled,  or  committed  with  the 
parties  you  name,  or  anybody  else.'  And  I  believe  if  he 
is  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  no  man  ever 
went  into  office  so  free  from  obligations  as  he  will  be. 
The  head-quarters  of  the  Hayes  movement  in  this  sec 
tion  during  the  campaign  were  projected  by  his  per 
sonal  friends ;  not  one  cent  was  contributed  by  an 
office-holder  or  politician." 

It  was  a  good  usage  of  the  old-fashioned  biogra 
phers,  with  whom  we  would  fain  ally  ourselves  in  some 
sort,  to  delineate  the  persons  of  their  heroes ;  and  the 
reader,  we  hope,  would  not  be  content  without  some 
such  picture  of  Hayes.  The  material  for  such  a  pict 
ure  is  vast  enough,  but  the  authorities  upon  his  looks 
are  not  so  well  agreed  as  those  upon  his  morals.  In 
its  way,  a  sketch  by  Judge  Johnston,  in  an  address  to 
a  ratification  meeting  at  Avondale,  Ohio,  is,  we  are 
told,  quite  trustworthy  :  — 

"  Place  him  on  a  platform  together  with  one  hun 
dred  distinguished  men,  and  call  in  an  able  connoisseur, 
who  has  neither  seen  nor  heard  of  any  one  of  them, 
and  he  will  point  him  out  as  a  model  man  ;  neither  too 


192  PERSONAL  APPEARANCE. 

large  nor  too  small,  nor  too  tall  nor  too  short,  nor  too 
fat  nor  too  lean,  nor  too  old  nor  too  young.  A  man 
in  the  prime  and  vigor  of  healthful  manhood,  with 
blood  in  his  veins  and  marrow  in  his  bones ;  able  to  en 
dure  any  labor,  either  of  body  or  of  mind,  which  may 
devolve  upon  him.  His  face  seems  made  to  match  his 
form.  No  painful,  care-worn  wrinkles,  indicative  of 
infirmities  or  misfortunes,  to  provoke  a  grudge  against 
nature,  or  engender  sourness  toward  mankind.  Nor 
does  he  wear  a  smirking  face,  as  if  he  were  a  candi 
date  for  admiration ;  but  a  fine,  sunny  countenance, 
such  as  men  and  women  respect,  and  children  love. 
His  manners,  like  his  countenance,  are  simple  and  sin 
cere.  He  don't  run  to  meet  you,  and  call  you  '  My 
VERY  DEAR  sir'  He  takes  you  by  the  hand,  with  a 
cordial  kindness  which  recognizes  the  universal  broth 
erhood  of  man,  and  impresses  you  that  he  is  a  man 
who  gets  above  nobody,  and  nobody  gets  above  him." 

If  this  is  not  enough,  there  is  a  yet  closer  portraiture 
—  also  said  to  be  faithful  —  by  Mr.  Keenan,  writing 
for  one  of  the  Chicago  newspapers.  It  is  well  to  pre 
mise  that  Hayes's  complexion  is  of  the  true  Scotch 
sandiness,  and  that  his  once  tawny  beard  and  hair  are 
both  now  touched  with  gray.  "  His  complexion,"  says 
Mr.  Keenan,  "  has  the  ripe  tinge  of  health.  He  is 
much  in  the  open  air,  and  has  cheeks  like  a  reaper's  — 
fresh,  brown,  and  thickly  bearded.  He  has  no  gift  of 
music  evidently,  for  his  bright,  frank,  blue  eyes  are  set 
closely  together,  under  a  fair,  clear,  shapely  forehead. 
The  nose  is  a  column  of  strength,  if  physiognomy's  laws 


A   NOBLE  LETTER.  193 

are  to  be  trusted.  It  is  not  the  hooked  beak  of  the 
Caesars,  but  the  complex  formation  which  marks  the 
stronger  type  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  The  lower  face, 
where  the  lines  can  be  seen,  is  symmetrical,  strong,  and 
reassuring.  In  repose  or  animation  the  face  is  a  fine 
one." 

And  now  that  we  stand,  as  it  were,  in  the  very 
presence  of  the  man,  let  him  speak  once  more  for  him 
self,  and  let  his  final  utterances  be  those  magnanimous 
words  which  are  truest  to  his  broad  and  generous  na 
ture.  Here  is  a  letter  written  home  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  Shenandoah  Valley  campaign,  which  we  com 
mend  to  the  perusal  of  the  whole  country,  North  and 
South :  — 

"  CHARLESTON,  CAMP  ELK,  July  2,  1864. 

"  You  wrote  one  thoughtless  sentence,  complaining 
of  Lincoln  for  failing  to  protect  our  unfortunate  pris 
oners  by  retaliation.  All  a  mistake !  all  such  things 
should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible.  We  have  done 
too  much  rather  than  too  little.  You  use  the  phrase 
'  brutal  rebels.'  Don't  be  cheated  in  that  way.  There 
are  enough  '  brutal  rebels,'  no  doubt,  but  there  are 
plenty  of  humane  rebels.  I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  it 
on  our  late  trip.  War  is  cruel  business,  and  there  is 
brutality  in  it  on  all  sides,  but  it  is  very  idle  to  get  up 
anxiety  on  account  of  any  supposed  peculiar  cruelty  on 
the  part  of  rebels." 

The  man  who  could  feel  so  justly  towards  enemies 
from  whom  he  was  in  daily,  hourly  peril,  wrote  home 
13 


194     THE  PROPORTIONS  OF  OUR  LEADER. 

yet  one  other  letter  which  we  must  give  to  show  how 
tolerantly  he  could  feel  toward  one  consenting  to  repre 
sent  a  cause  which  he  abhorred :  — 

"  CAMP  SUMMIT  POINT,  VIRGINIA,  September  9, 1864. 
"  Speaking  of  politics,  it  is  quite  common  for  young 
sters,  adopting  their  parents'  notions,  to  get  very  bitter 
talk   into   their  innocent  little   mouths.     I    was    quite 

willing  W.  [his    son]  should    'hurrah  for  ,'    last 

summer  with  the  addition,  '  and  a  rope  to  hang  him, ' 
but  I  feel  quite  different  about  McClellan.  He  is  on 
a  mean  platform,  and  is  in  bad  company  ;  but  I  do  not 
doubt  his  personal  loyalty ;  and  he  has  been  a  soldier, 
and  what  is  more,  a  soldier's  friend.  No  man  ever 
treated  the  private  soldier  better.  No  commander  was 
ever  more  loved  by  his  men.  I  therefore  want  my 
boys  taught  to  think  and  talk  well  of  General  Mc 
Clellan." 

This,  then,  is  our  leader.  The  proportions  are  he 
roic,  but  the  figure  is  not  larger  than  life  ;  and  the 
nearer  we  draw  to  it,  the  more  august  and  benign  are 
the  lineaments.  A  scholar,  and  a  lover  of  letters  and 
the  arts ;  fine  by  nature  and  refined  by  culture,  careful 
self-study,  and  wide  knowledge  of  both  men  and  books  ; 
a  soldier  of  dauntless  bravery  and  approved  genius  ; 
a  statesman  and  public  servant  of  the  best  principles 
and  of  irreproachable  performance,  his  highest  com 
mendation  to  our  honor  and  our  trust  is  still  that  he 
is  a  true  and  good  man. 


THE  LEGEND   OF  A   SHIELD.  195 

Among  the  escutcheons  of  the  old  Scottish  borderers 
which  hang  on  the  walls  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  library, 
at  Abbotsford,  are  those  of  the  Rutherfords  and  the 
Hayeses.  The  arms  of  the  Hayeses  are  a  shield  with 
a  Greek  cross  and  four  stars,  surmounted  by  a  dove, 
and  having  for  legend  one  word  —  a  word  which  has 
always  been  the  instinct  and  the  principle  of  the  man 
whose  life  we  have  so  imperfectly  portrayed  — 

«  RECTE  !  " 


SKETCH   OF  THE   LIFE 


OP 


WILLIAM  A.  WHEELER. 


^^x^/ 


SKETCH   OF   THE   LIFE 


OP 


WILLIAM  A.   WHEELEK. 


THE  writer  of  this  sketch,  though  counting  himself 
among  the  friends  of  Mr.  Wheeler,  does  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  indulge  in  mere  eulogy  of  him,  regarding  him 
only  from  the  standpoint  of  personal  friendship.  The 
attitude  of  Mr.  Wheeler  as  a  candidate  for  one  of  the 
highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  gives  them  a 
right  to  exact  and  impartial  information  respecting  both 
his  public  career  and  his  personal  character  as  bearing 
on  the  question  of  his  fitness  for  the  high  position  to 
which  he  has  been  named.  For  in  this  canvass,  more 
perhaps  than  in  any  previous  one,  personal  integrity  as 
the  surest  guaranty  of  official  rectitude,  is  emphasized 
beyond  all  other  qualifications.  And  most  happily  both 
for  Mr.  Wheeler  and  the  nation,  the  more  both  his 
public  career  and  his  personal  character  are  known, 
the  more  deserving  of  the  confidence  of  the  people  at 
this  critical  time,  will  he  be  proved.  "  Let  them  turn 
their  calcium  light  on  me,"  he  said  to  one  who  rallied 
him  on  his  calmness  under  public  scrutiny  just  before 


4  PARENTAGE. 

the  Convention,  "  they  will  find  nothing  which  will 
make  my  friends  ashamed  of  me."  To  this  proud  as 
sertion  of  the  consciousness  of  right,  limiting  itself  to 
modest  self-acquittal,  may  be  added  by  those  who  know 
the  man  and  have  watched  his  career,  that  "  the  fiercest 
light  which  beats  upon  "  a  candidate  can  reveal  in  him 
only  new  traits  to  admire  and  new  virtues  to  honor. 
And  more :  Mr.  Wheeler's  character  is  such  that  it  not 
only  endures  this  strong  light,  but  needs  it  in  order  to 
be  brought  out  into  observation.  Some  men  show  to 
advantage  in  the  shade  of  common-place  events,  but 
wilt  under  the  glare  of  great  responsibilities.  Mr. 
Wheeler  belongs  to  the  class  of  men  who  are  greatest 
on  great  occasions  and  under  the  stress  of  great  de 
mands.  This  sketch  —  the  writer  must  stipulate  with 
his  readers  that  this  be  understood  —  will  not  do  him 
justice  ;  no  written  life  can,  because  the  best  part  of  his 
life  is  as  yet  unrevealed.  He  has  spoken  many  brave 
and  wise  words  which  have  had  their  influence  in  shap 
ing  memorable  events  ;  but  what  he  has  done  is  greater 
than  what  he  has  said ;  and  he  is  greater  than  all  he 
has  said  and  done.  If  the  people  confirm  him  in  the 
position  of  leadership  to  which  one  of  the  great  na 
tional  parties  has  designated  him,  it  will  be  found  that 
he  has  still  in  reserve  resources  of  greatness  and  good 
ness  upon  which  neither  his  party  nor  the  nation  has 
yet  drawn. 

PARENTAGE. 

Mr.  Wheeler  comes    of   good  stock.     Three    great 
New  England  principles  are  traceable  in  the  family  for 


EDUCATION.  5 

several  generations :  love  of  freedom,  love  of  knowledge, 
and  the  fear  of  God.  The  grandfather  Wheeler  was 
in  the  first  Concord  fight.  The  maternal  grandfather, 
William  Woodward,  was  a  soldier  all  through  the 
Revolution.  The  Wheeler  branch  of  the  family,  from 
Massachusetts,  and  the  Woodward  branch,  from  Con 
necticut,  came  together  in  Vermont,  where  Almon 
Wheeler,  father  of  William,  was  born,  and  where  he 
lived  till  two  months  before  his  son's  birth.  It  thus 
appears  that  both  the  Republican  candidates  are  of 
Vermont  parentage.  We  may  be  permitted  to  hope 
that  this  fact  is  no  bad  omen  either  for  the  character 
of  the  men  or  the  success  of  the  candidates.  Mr. 
Wheeler  at  least  seems  not  to  augur  ill  of  his  origin. 
"  I  have  Vermont  blood  in  my  veins,"  he  said  at  Mont- 
pelier,  "  and  Vermont  ideas  in  my  head.  My  father 
was  a  Highgate  man  and  my  mother  a  Castleton 
woman,  and  in  my  early  days  I  lived  in  the  town  of 
Fairfax,  where  under  the  shadow  of  old  Fletcher 
Mountain,  I  learned  from  a  valued  uncle,  in  the  inter 
vals  of  the  toil  which  was  the  common  lot  of  almost  all 
men  in  those  days,  those  lessons  which  only  the  true 
New  Englander  could  inculcate." 

EDUCATION. 

There  runs  through  the  Wheeler  family  the  story,  so 
common  in  New  England  families  of  those  times,  of 
struggles  with  poverty  and  hardship  in  the  pursuit  of 
education.  In  this  case  it  was  the  old  story  in  its  most 
pathetic  form,  ambition  saddened  by  ill  health  and  ar- 


6  EDUCATION. 

rested  short  of  the  hoped-for  success.  Almon  Wheeler, 
obliged  by  sickness  to  suspend  his  studies  in  the  Uni 
versity  of  Vermont,  at  Burlington,  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  law,  in  which  he  gave  promise  of  eminence, 
but  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-seven.  His  son, 
William  Almon,  born  at  Malone,  New  York,  June  30, 
1819,  was  but  eight  years  old  at  his  father's  death. 
For  the  support  of  the  family,  consisting  of  William 
and  two  sisters,  the  widowed  mother  found  herself  in 
possession  of  an  estate  valued  at  about  $300,  and 
encumbered  by  a  mortgage.  But  this  mother,  Eliza 
Woodward  Wheeler,  —  her  name  deserves  to  be  writ 
large, —  was  a  woman  of  great  force  of  character,  con- 
,  cealed  under  the  gentlest  exterior.  By  taking  boarders 
for  the  academy  at  the  rate  of  $1.25  a  week,  she  con 
trived  to  keep  her  little  family  from  want,  and  to  give 
William  the  chance  to  attend  the  district  schools  until 
he  was  old  enough  to  earn  something  for  himself  while 
pursuing  his  studies  preparatory  to  college.  During 
this  time  he  taught  schools  and  "  boarded  round,"  in 
winters,  and  worked  at  farming  in  the  laboring  season, 
sometimes  for  months'  wages,  sometimes  for  the  tenth 
bushel  of  corn  husked,  the  tenth  basket  of  potatoes 
dug,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  region.  If  ever 
his  ambition  flagged  or  his  hope  grew  dim,  in  view  of 
all  that  lay  between  him  and  the  great  prize  of  a  liberal 
education,  the  mother's  heroic  spirit  came  to  the  rescue 
and  helped  him  through  the  momentary  lull  of  his  own 
aspirations.  And  as  Providence  would  have  it,  in  all 
this  brave,  patient,  strenuous  battle  with  the  hardships 


LEGAL  PRACTICE.  7 

of  his  life,  the  lad  was  not  only  knitting  his  physical 
and  moral  frame  into  condition  for  manly  work,  but  was 
drawing  the  attention  of  many  to  himself  as  one  whom 
they  might  well  put  in  the  way  of  promotion  when  the 
opportunity  should  come.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  with 
a  capital  of  $30  lent  him  by  a  former  friend  who 
had  more  faith  in  William  than  in  himself,  he  entered 
the  University  of  Vermont  and  pursued  the  course  of 
study  for  two  years,  absent  from  the  classes  much  of  the 
time  to  work  and  teach.  His  college  contemporaries 
speak  of  him  as  a  good  scholar,  studious,  thoughtful, 
and  having  a  great  many  ideas  of  his  own.  At  the 
end  of  two  years,  the  family  necessities  and  an  affection 
of  the  eyes  compelled  him,  though  with  great  reluc 
tance,  to  leave  college.  Mr.  Wheeler  did  not,  however, 
cease  to  be  a  student.  He  has  always  been  a  thought 
ful  reader  of  the  best  books,  especially  in  English  litera 
ture.  His  style  and  utterance  are  those  of  an  educated 
man.  The  writer  does  not  remember  to  have  ever 
heard  him  misconstruct  a  sentence  or  mispronounce  a 
word,  and  this  is  much  to  say  of  the  most  finished 
scholar. 

LEGAL    PRACTICE. 

Immediately  on  leaving  college,  Mr.  Wheeler  entered 
upon  the  study  of  law  with  Asa  Hascall,  a  leading  law 
yer  of  Malone,  and  after  four  years'  study,  three  of  the 
seven  years  then  required  being  remitted  on  account  of 
his  classical  discipline,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and 
"  soon  acquired,"  says  a  former  legal  brother,  "  an  en 
viable  position  as  a  keen  advocate  and  wise  counsellor, 


8  LOCAL  AND   STATE   OFFICES. 

which  brought  him  clients,  friends,  and  competence." 
A  throat  trouble  which  seriously  interfered  with  his 
practice  as  an  advocate,  finally  compelled  him  to  aban 
don  the  profession  of  the  law,  which  he  did  in  1851. 

LOCAL    AND    STATE    OFFICES. 

From  his  early  manhood,  Mr.  Wheeler  has  held  a 
succession  of  offices,  the  variety  and  importance  of  which 
attest  the  confidence  of  those  who  know  him  best. 
During  his  early  struggles  to  maintain  himself  and  his 
family,  .his  neighbors  seemed  to  have  bestowed  all 
their  offices  on  him,  one  after  another,  as  fast  as  he  grew 
up  to  them.  While  studying  law,  he  was  made  town 
clerk,  school  commissioner,  and  school  inspector.  At 
the  first  election  under  the  Constitution  of  1846,  by 
which  the  county  judges  and  district  attorneys  were 
made  eligible  by  popular  vote,  Mr.  Wheeler,  who  was  a 
pronounced  Whig,  was  elected  district  attorney,  and 
his  partner,  a  Democrat,  was  elected  judge,  on  a  Union 
ticket,  it  being  then  the  desire  of  both  parties  to  keep 
judicial  elections  free  from  party  strifes.  In  1849,  and 
again  in  1850,  Mr.  Wheeler  was  elected  by  the  Whigs 
a  member  of  the  New  York  Assembly,  and  in  1859  and 
1860,  was  State  senator  for  his  district.  Although  he 
was  always  an  active,  and  was  at  times  an  ardent  party 
man,  and  was  outspoken  in  the  advocacy  of  the  meas 
ures  he  approved,  it  is  the  testimony  alike  of  his 
political  friends  and  opponents,  that  he  had  a  delicate 
sense  of  official  responsibility ;  that  he  was  broad  and 
catholic  in  his  sympathies  and  acts  as  a  legislator ;  and 


LOCAL  AND   STATE   OFFICES.  9 

severely  just  in  giving  or  refusing  his  great  influence 
to  the  many  interests  that  appealed  to  him.  This  may 
explain  the  high  respect  which  he  has  always  enjoyed 
from  men  of  all  parties,  and  his  singular  exemption 
from  that  partisan  calumny  which  is  the  disgrace  of 
American  politics. 

How  Mr.  Wheeler  felt  toward  those  who  had  ad 
vanced  him  to  so  many  honors  is  touchingly  mani 
fested  by  an  impromptu  address  made  to  them  shortly 
after  his  nomination  to  the  Vice-Presidency,  which  we 
give  at  length,  because  it  fills  in  with  warmer  touches 
our  meagre  outline  of  his  early  life,  and  shows  in 
what  estimate  he  holds  the  mere  honors  and  rewards 
of  office  as  compared  with  the  esteem  of  good  men  and 
the  approbation  of  his  own  heart :  — 

TOWNSMEN  AND  FRIENDS  :  Of  the  many  congrat 
ulations  proffered  me  since  my  nomination  by  the  Re 
publican  Convention  for  the  second  place  in  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States,  none  have  so  stirred  me 
and  come  so  near  my  heart  as  yours.  If  this  nomi 
nation  be  an  honor  —  and  who  shall  gainsay  it  ?  —  it  is 
your  honor  and  not  mine ;  I  am  the  simple  instrument 
through  which  it  is  reflected.  For  what  am  I,  and 
what  have  I,  that  I  have  not  received  from  you  ?  It 
was  in  the  early  confidence  of  the  people  of  Malone, 
in  their  cheering  words  of  encouragement,  and  in  their 
unwavering  support,  that  the  foundations  of  whatever 
success  I  have  achieved  in  life  were  laid.  In  boy 
hood,  in  manhood,  and  now  that  the  sun  of  life  is  well 


10  LOCAL  AND   STATE   OFFICES. 

past  the  meridian,  these  have  been,  and  are  now,  my 
refuge  and  strength. 

No  honor,  however  exalted,  shall  ever  dim  my  grat 
itude  to  those  who  extended  to  me  the  helping  hand 
in  my  early  struggles,  and  who  have  honored  me  with 
life-long  trust  and  substantial  acts  of  kindness.  Nor 
can  the  glare  and  glitter  of  life  at  the  national  capital, 
or  the  blandishments  and  hollow  arts  of  its  society, 
ever  efface  the  simple  tastes  and  early  habits  learned 
by  me  from  the  New  England  pioneers  of  this  goodly 
town,  to  which  I  always  return  with  renewed  pleasure 
and  gratitude.  How  many  of  those  pioneers  whose 
memory  is  hallowed  by  me,  would,  if  they  could  speak, 
this  morning  join  in  your  congratulations  ! 

From  the  people  of  Malone  I  received  my  first  po 
litical  recognition.  Even  before  I  had  attained  my 
majority  they  made  me  clerk  of  the  town,  an  office  in 
which  I  magnified  myself  more  than  in  all  the  offices  I 
have  since  possessed,  and  whose  pecuniary  emoluments 
—  $30  for  the  year  —  for  recording  the  estrays  of  the 
town  and  the  laying  out  of  new  roads,  were  of  more 
value  to  me  than  the  thousands  I  have  since  attained. 

And  right  here  I  want  to  say  a  word  especially  to 
the  young  men,  so  many  of  whom  I  see  before  me  — 
a  class  in  whom  I  always  take  the  deepest  interest, 
and  with  whose  efforts  in  life  to  achieve  honorable  suc 
cess  I  am  always  in  deep  sympathy.  It  is  said  that 
a  fellow  feeling  makes  us  wondrous  kind.  There  are 
few  phases  in  the  struggles  of  the  boy  or  young  man 
to  make  his  way  in  life  in  which  I  have  not  had  severe 


LOCAL  AND   STATE   OFFICES.  11 

experience.  When,  forty  years  ago,  on  a  cold  Decem 
ber  morning,  before  the  dawn  of  day,  I  emerged  from 
the  humble  home  which  then  stood  upon  the  site  from 
which  I  now  address  you,  to  make  my  way  on  foot 
through  the  falling  snow  to  an  adjoining  town  to  teach 
my  first  district  school  at  ten  dollars  a  month,  "  half 
store  pay  ; "  and  when,  during  that  winter,  in  the 
progress  of  boarding  around,  in  the  chambers  of  the 
log  houses,  through  the  shrunken  roof  boards,  I  was 
literally  a  "  star  gazer,"  had  any  one  predicted  to  me 
that  at  some  future  period  of  my  life  I  should  be  nom 
inated  by  a  great  party  to  the  second  office  in  the  gift 
of  forty  millions  of  people,  it  would  have  been  deemed 
stranger  to  me  than  any  of  the  tales  of  the  "  Arabian 
Nights  "  which  so  stirred  my  boyish  wonder.  With  an 
imagination  naturally  vivid,  I  built  many  air  castles  in 
those  days,  but  this  nomination  was  not  among  the 
structures.  My  nomination  has  this  lesson  for  you, 
young  men.  In  this  beneficent  people's  government  of 
ours,  every  man,  without  regard  to  the  accidents  of 
birth  or  fortune,  is,  with  character,  industry,  and  per 
severance,  the  equal  of  every  other  man,  and  honest 
efforts  to  make  an  honorable  name  in  life  are  sure  of 
recognition  and  reward.  And  despite  the  hard  things 
we  say  of  the  world,  my  own  experience  is  that  it 
never  withholds  a  helping  hand  from  a  young  man  who 
shows  an  upright,  stern  determination  to  help  himself. 
Doing  this,  though  he  fail  of  political  distinction,  he 
will  obtain  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  fellow 
men,  which  is  far  better. 


12  LOCAL    AND   STATE   OFFICES. 

"Honor  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise; 
Act  well  your  part,  there  all  the  honor  lies." 

To  be  selected  from  this  great,  imperial  common 
wealth  as  its  exponent  of  that  party  whose  achievement* 
for  liberty  and  unity,  and  for  the  advancement  of  the 
great  cause  of  human  brotherhood,  have  no  parallel  in 
the  annals  of  the  world,  is  an  honor  which  ought  to 
gratify  any  man's  ambition.  But  it  is  an  honor  which 
comes  to  me  unexpectedly,  which  I  did  not  seek,  and 
which  I  say  in  all  frankness  I  did  not  desire.  So  long 
as  I  might  remain  in  the  public  service  my  preference 
was  to  remain  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  But 
how  utterly  empty  and  meaningless  is  the  honor  to  me, 
standing  in  the  shadow  of  this  desolate  home,  you  all 
well  know. 

To  the  great  tribunal  of  the  American  people,  in 
which  issue  is  again  joined  by  the  two  great  leading 
parties  which  divide  the  country,  we  can  safely  leave 
the  argument  and  the  verdict.  In  the  meantime,  how 
ever  our  party  relations  may  be  ruffled,  I  trust  our  per 
sonal  relations  may  remain  undisturbed.  And  when 
the  verdict  shall  be  rendered  in  November,  we  shall 
all,  as  good  citizens,  desiring  only  the  prosperity  of  our 
common  country,  cheerfully  acquiesce  in  it,  whatever 
it  may  be.  And  whatever  the  result  shall  be  as  to  my 
self,  I  shall  hope  to  remain  secure  in  your  personal 
confidence.  That  is  my  highest  purpose  and  ambition. 
And  when,  in  obedience  to  universal  and  inevitable 
law,  after  the  fitful  fever  of  life,  its  weary  wheels  shall 
at  last  stand  still,  and  I  shall  go  to  the  rest  which, 


THE   CONSTITUTIONAL   CONVENTION.  13 

thank  God,  beyond  the  conflicts  and  bereavements  of 
this  life  "  remaineth"  I  know  I  shall  be  followed  by  that 
charity  with  which  our  better  nature  covers  the  short 
comings  and  imperfections  of  those  who  lay  aside  life's 
armor,  and  cross  the  flood  to  join  the  great,  silent  ma 
jority. 

THE    CONSTITUTIONAL    CONVENTION. 

In  1867  Mr.  Wheeler  was  chosen  one  of  the  dele 
gates  at  large  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  This  body  was  one  of  the  ablest 
ever  assembled  in  the  State,  embracing  a  large  number 
of  such  men  as  Wm.  M.  Evarts,  George  W.  Curtis, 
Horace  Greeley,  Sanford  E.  Church,  Ira  Harris,  Sam 
uel  J.  Tilden,  Edwards  Pierrepont,  representatives  of 
the  best  legal,  financial,  and  administrative  talent  of  the 
Empire  State.  Over  this  imposing  body  Mr.  Wheeler 
was  called  to  preside  by  the  highly  complimentary  vote 
of  100  over  49,  no  competitor  receiving  over  9  votes. 
He  took  no  part  in  the  debates,  "  having  to  undergo  " 
as  Mr.  Erastus  Brooks,  his  colleague,  expressed  it,  "  a 
severe  ordeal  for  a  man  of  ability,  literally  putting  a 
padlock  upon  his  mind,  being  unable  in  consequence  of 
his  position  to  mingle  in  the  debates."  In  making  up 
the  committees  of  this  body,  with  characteristic  magna 
nimity  he  put  leading  Democrats  into  several  important 
positions.  "  I  came  to  the  chair,"  said  he  in  his  closing 
speech,  "  with  the  single  purpose  of  administering  its 
duties  fairly  and  impartially ;  remembering  that  the 
trust  confided  to  us  was  neither  for  majorities  nor  mi- 


14  AS  A   PRESIDING   OFFICER. 

norities,  but  for  all  alike  as  citizens  of  a  common  State." 
Some  of  his  ultra  Republican  friends  were  at  first  of 
fended  by  this  course  of  action,  but  afterward  acknowl 
edged  both  its  justice  and  policy. 

AS    A    PRESIDING    OFFICER, 

there  can  be  no  question  that  Mr.  Wheeler  would 
bring  preeminent  ability  to  the  position  of  President  of 
the  Senate.  His  mental  characteristics,  his  quick  per 
ception  of  the  real  issue  through  all  perplexities,  his 
promptness  of  utterance  and  action,  his  habit  of  im 
partial  judgment,  mark  him  out  for  a  presiding  officer. 
The  Senate  of  New  York  discovered  his  parliamentary 
ability  and  chose  him  its  speaker  pro  tempore.  Speak 
ing  to  a  resolution  of  thanks  tendered  to  the  president 
at  the  close  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  Mr.  San- 
ford  E.  Church  said :  "  I  have  had  some  experience  in 
deliberative  bodies,  and  I  can  say  without  qualification 
that  for  impartiality,  fairness,  and  ability,  I  have  never 
seen  a  presiding  officer  excel  the  presiding  officer  of  this 
body."  And  to  this  high  testimony  Mr.  George  W. 
Curtis  added :  "  I  shall  carry  from  this  Convention  the 
profoundest  impression  of  the  dignified  deliberation 
which  is  possible  for  gentlemen  in  a  period  of  great 
political  excitement,  but  who  are  called  together  to  ad 
minister  a  great  public  trust.  As  for  the  gentleman 
who  has  presided  over  our  deliberations,  we  shall  all,  I 
am  sure,  to  the  latest  hour  of  our  lives,  bear  his  image 
in  our  memories,  as  that  of  a  most  able,  a  most  urbane, 
and  most  skillful  officer." 


IN   CONGRESS.  15 

IN    CONGRESS. 

Mr.  Wheeler  has  sat  as  Representative  in  the  thirty- 
seventh,  forty-first,  forty-second,  forty-third,  and  forty- 
fourth  Congresses.  During  most  of  this  time,  while 
he  has  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  men 
in  Congress  by  those  within,  he  has  been  one  of  the 
least  conspicuous  in  the  eyes  of  those  without.  He 
has  been  a  working  rather  than  a  talking  member. 
His  oratory,  which  is  vigorous  and  effective,  has  been 
devoted  to  advocating  and  defending  measures  which 
came  from  his  committees.  During  his  whole  career 
he  has  never  made  a  volunteer  speech.  Our  constitu 
encies  are  coming  slowly  to  understand  that  the  men 
who  are  the  most  valuable  in  Congress,  the  men  who 
influence  legislation  most  effectually,  are  those  who 
work  hard  in  committees,  talk  but  seldom  on  the  floor, 
and  then  with  business-like  point  and  directness.  Mr. 
Wheeler  belongs  to  this  class.  When  ordinary  men 
have  confused  and  muddled  a  question  beyond  any  ap 
parent  hope  of  a  settlement,  a  few  words  of  clear  good 
sense  from  Mr.  Wheeler  often  closes  the  dispute.  He 
has  also  another  method  of  influencing  votes,  which  is 
quite  effective,  but  does  not  seem  to  be  emulated  by  as 
piring  Congressmen  as  much  as  might  be  wished.  He 
keeps  such  a  vigilant  watch  over  measures  in  progress, 
and  forms  his  opinions  on  them  so  honestly  and  care 
fully,  that  men  who  want  to  rely  on  a  sound  judgment, 
and  who  distrust  their  own,  find  out  how  Mr.  Wheeler 
intends  to  vote,  and  act  accordingly.  He  is  thus  a  kind 


16  IN   CONGRESS. 

of  legislative  conscience  to  a  considerable  number  of 
members.  His  standing  with  his  political  opponents  is 
shown  by  his  being  unanimously  selected  in  the  Demo 
cratic  caucus  as  a  member  of  the  Belknap  Impeach 
ment  Committee.  With  regard  to  the  measures  in 
Congress  by  which  so  many  fair  names  have  been 
smirched,  let  his  colleague,  Hon.  Robert  H.  Ellis, 
speak  for  him  :  — 

"  No  inquiry  has  ever  connected  his  name  with  any 
transaction  depending  in  the  most  remote  degree  on 
his  legislative  action.  When  it  was  the  fashion  for  all 
men  to  dabble  in  railroad  stocks  and  bonds,  and  his 
own  training  might  have  induced  him  to  invest  in  such 
securities,  Mr.  Wheeler  never  bought  or  sold  a  share  of 
stock  or  a  single  bond  in  any  of  the  Pacific  roads.  His 
experience  on  his  local  railroad  would  have  rendered 
his  services  of  rare  value  to  any  one  of  the  great  en 
terprises  with  which  he  was  brought  into  contact ;  and 
the  cases  are  many  where  legislators  have  by  such  re 
lations  been  introduced  to  remunerative  employment. 
Mr.  Wheeler  is  free  from  even  such  imputation  upon 
his  disinterestedness. 

"  Other  men  have  not  accounted  it  an  offense  to  use 
knowledge  obtained  by  them  as  legislators  as  a  basis  for 
investments  and  business  transactions.  Such  knowl 
edge  Mr.  Wheeler  often  had,  but  his  sense  of  right  and 
his  instincts  of  fair  play  forbade  his  taking  any  such 
advantage.  He  has  served  his  country  in  Congress  for 
ten  years,  without  adding  to  the  moderate  competence 
with  which  he  first  went  to  Washington.  With  simple 


ECONOMY   IN   EXPENDITURE.  17 

tastes,  he  has  never  been  greedy  of  gain  either  for  its 
own  sake  or  the  luxury  it  would  buy.  As  a  legislator, 
the  thought  never  occurred  to  him  that  his  influence 
could  bring  riches,  and  not  the  shadow  of  a  stain  rests 
on  his  name. 

"  In  the  last  Congress  he  was  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Commerce,  and  a  member  of  the  Committee 
on  Appropriations,  and  in  the  present  Congress  ho 
serves  on  the  same  committees.  In  these  positions,  he 
has  never  been  self-asserting.  His  leadership  has  not 
been  that  of  push;  he  has  never  sought  notoriety.  He 
has  walked  modestly  in  the  path  of  duty,  without  self- 
seeking,  and  fearing  no  consequences." 

ECONOMY    IN     EXPENDITURE. 

A  short  specimen  of  Mr.  Wheeler's  style  of  speak 
ing  in  Congress  is  here  appended.  Let  the  reader 
note  the  ring  of  sincerity  in  this  plea  for  economy,  and 
make  his  own  contrasts. 

"  In  presenting  the  regular  appropriation  bill  for  the 
support  of  the  army  for  the  next  fiscal  year,  the 
committee  on  appropriations  invite  for  it  close  atten 
tion  and  examination.  Economy  in  public  expendi 
ture  is  now  the  profession  of  every  lip ;  its  practice  is 
the  universal,  imperative  demand  of  the  hour.  The 
time  has  passed,  for  a  while  at  least,  when  millions  of 
the  public  funds  can,  as  at  some  former  periods,  flow 
safely  through  *,he  open  sluice-ways  of  legislation  with 
out  careful  consideration  and  critical  scrutiny.  The 
specter  of  renewed  and  increased  taxation  now  haunts 


18  ECONOMY    IN   EXPENDITURE. 

every  hamlet  in  the  land,  and  upon  us,  as  possessing 
the  power,  and  in  the  exercise  of  a  wise  prudence  and 
discretion,  the  people  rely  to  beat  back  from  their 
homes  the  unwelcome  reality. 

"  Probably  there  has  been  no  period  in  our  history 
when  the  people  were  more  sensitive  upon  the  subject 
of  taxation,  or  more  keenly  inquisitive  as  to  its  neces 
sity.  The  great  and,  until  quite  recently,  steady  re 
duction  of  our  national  indebtedness,  and  the  removal 
of  the  greater  portion  of  the  burdensome  taxation  im 
posed  by  the  war,  led  our  people  to  believe,  with  rea 
son,  that  their  long-fettered  energies  and  industries 
were  at  length  unloosed,  and  the  country  once  more 
placed  upon  the  sure  road  to  permanent  prosperity. 
The  sudden  dissipation  of  these  hopes  surprises  and 
disheartens  them,  and  all  the  more,  as  they  are  now 
suffering  from  severe  monetary  derangements  and  the 
great  reduction  of  values  ever,  in  time,  inseparable 
from  an  inflated  paper  currency. 

"  The  people  are  now  ill  able  and  ill  disposed  to  bear 
burdens  not  demanded  by  palpable,  immediate,  pressing 
necessity.  They  demand  of  us  to  practice  here  the 
economy  to  which  they  are  forced,  and  to  bend  to  the 
necessity  which  overpowers  them. 

"  We  ought  now  and  here  to  accept  and  legislate  for 
the  future  upon  the  fact  that  certain  great  questions, 
which  have  for  the  past  few  years  overshadowed  all 
others,  and  to  which,  for  the  time,  all  others  were 
justly  subordinated,  have  been  substantially  settled. 
In  a  certain  sense  we  are  called  upon  to  take,  in  leg- 


ECONOMY   IN  EXPENDITURE.  19 

islation,  what  our  Democratic  friends  style  a  '  new  de 
parture.'  The  questions  of  slavery,  of  the  integrity 
of  the  Union,  of  reconstruction,  and  the  like,  are 
hereafter  to  live  mostly,  if  not  wholly,  in  the  memory, 
soon,  we  trust,  to  be  erased  even  from  its  tablet,  in  the 
closer,  more  cordial  fraternity,  the  better  civilization, 
the  general  prosperity  and  high  advancement  in  every 
thing  which  exalts  and  refines  a  nation,  for  all  which, 
with  wise  and  just  government  to  foster  and  aid,  the 
costly  experience  of  the  last  few  years  has  laid  the 
sure  foundation. 

"  With  the  adjustment  of  old  difficulties  comes  the 
era  of  peace,  leaving  the  people  free  for  the  pursuit  of 
avocations  which  respect  their  material  interests.  He 
is  a  poor  statesman  who  imagines  for  a  moment  that 
the  record  of  the  past,  however  brilliant  or  beneficent, 
can  cover  present  dereliction  of  duty,  or  atone  for 
want  of  fidelity,  capacity,  and  adaptation  to  grapple 
successfully  with  the  questions  which  now  confront  us. 
No  party  can  or  ought  to  command  the  confidence  and 
support  of  the  people  which  is  not  equal  and  faithful 
to  current  duties  and  responsibilities,  and  whose  rep 
resentatives  do  not  demonstrate  by  wise  action  that  they 
exercise  their  trust  broadly,  intelligently,  effectively, 
and  honestly  in  the  interest  of  the  whole  people.  He 
scans  the  political  horizon  to  little  purpose  who  does 
not  discern  this  sure  sign  of  the  times." 


20      THE  SALARY  GRAB.  —  WAR  RECORD. 


THE  SALARY  GRAB. 

A  few  days  after  the  passage  of  the  act  known  as 
the  "  Salary  Grab  Law,"  Mr.  Wheeler  wrote  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury:  "As  this  measure  was  op 
posed  by  my  vote  in  all  its  stages,  it  does  not  comport 
with  my  views  of  consistency  or  propriety  to  take  the 
above  sum  to  my  personal  use.  I  desire,  therefore, 
without  giving  publicity  to  the  act,  to  return  it  to  the 
treasury,  which  I  do  by  enclosing  herewith  five-twenty 
bonds  of  the  United  States,  purchased  with  said  funds 
and  assigned  by  me  to  you  for  the  sole  purpose  of  can 
cellation."  Mr.  Wheeler  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
to  adopt  this  mode  of  returning  his  extra  pay  into  the 
treasury. 

WAR    RECORD. 

When  the  old  Whig  party  wavered,  and  finally  broke 
in  the  onset  with  slavery,  Mr.  Wheeler  was  among  the 
first  to  hail  the  new  party  of  freedom.  Pie  threw  him 
self  with  characteristic  vigor  into  the  campaign  of  1856, 
with  the  loss  of  which  by  the  friends  of  freedom  went 
out  the  last  hope  of  averting  civil  war.  His  sympathy 
with  the  victims  of  border  ruffianism  in  Kansas,  was  due 
in  part  to  the  conviction  that  they  were  in  reality  the 
picket  line  in  the  great  conflict  shortly  coming  on  be 
tween  slavery  and  freedom.  But  his  sympathy  and  his 
conviction  are  revealed  in  this  letter  :  — 


WAR   RECORD.  21 

TREMONT  HOUSE,  CHICAGO,  June  2,  1856. 
Editors  of  the  Chicago  Daily  Tribune  :  — 

Herewith  I  send  draft  on  Metropolitan  Bank,  New 
York,  for  one  hundred  dollars,  which  I  will  thank  you 
to  hand  to  the  appropriate  committee  for  distributing 
material  aid  to  our  hunted  and  oppressed  brethren  in 
Kansas.  Residing  in  the  State  of  New  York,  to  which 
I  shall  not  return  for  several  days,  I  am  induced  to 
contribute  my  mite  here,  that  it  may  be  made  available 
as  soon  as  possible.  I  shall  always  number  among  the 
cherished  events  of  my  life,  that  I  had  the  opportunity 
of  attending  the  meeting  in  this  city  on  Saturday  even 
ing  last.  To  see  here,  in  the  residence  of  Douglass, 
such  a  breaking  away  from  party  trammels  ;  such  a 
spontaneous  and  hearty  outburst  of  sympathetic  free 
dom,  and  of  determined  resistance  to  oppression  and 
wrong,  makes  one  more  hopeful  for  the  future,  and  is 
an  encouraging  indication  that  the  free  North  is  at  last 
aroused,  and  will  assert  and  maintain  its  just  rights  in 

the  government Now  that  the  banner  is 

thrown  to  the  breeze,  there  will  be  no  faltering  in   its 
support.      Kansas  will  inevitably  become  free.     Slavery 

has  made  its  last  stride I 

W.  A.  WHEELER. 

A  few  days  after  the  firing  on  Sumter,  a  meeting  of 
the  citizens  of  Malone  was  held,  at  which  Mr.  Wheeler 
made  a  stirring  appeal  to  his  fellow-citizens  to  sustain 
the  government,  and  headed  a  subscription  for  the  re- 


22  THE   LOUISIANA   ADJUSTMENT. 

lief  of  soldiers'  families  with  $1000.  During  the  two 
following  years  he  was  in  Congress,  where  he  was 
among  the  foremost  in  devising  and  urging  ways  and 
means  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  war.  He 
also  gave  a  large  amount  of  time  and  attention  to  car 
ing  for  the  soldiers  from  his  State,  making  use  of  his 
extensive  banking  connections  to  forward  their  earnings 
to  their  families,  and  in  every  possible  way,  contribu 
ting  to  their  comfort  and  looking  after  their  interests. 
If  soldiers'  gratitude  could  be  quarried,  Mr.  Wheeler's 
bundles  of  letters  contain  enough  to  make  a  pyramid. 

THE    LOUISIANA    ADJUSTMENT. 

Probably  the  one  act  of  Mr.  Wheeler's  life  which 
comes  nearest  to  furnishing  a  measure  of  the  real  power 
and  greatness  of  the  man,  is  his 'management  of  the 
Louisiana  difficulties  in  1875.  This  is  often  referred  to 
as  the  "  Wheeler  compromise."  But  it  was  not  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  term  a  compromise  ;  Mr.  Wheeler 
himself  does  not  so  style  it ;  but  an  adjustment,  a  plan 
which  aimed  first  to  determine  what  was  just  between 
the  two  contending  parties  and  then  to  bring  both 
parties  to  accept  it.  The  situation  was  one  of  the  an 
griest  and  most  threatening  among  all  the  scenes  which 
have  attended  the  progress  of  reconstruction  at  the 
South.  Intimidation  and  proscription  of  the  colored 
voting  population  on  the  one  side,  false  returns  and 
military  interference  on  the  other  ;  two  hostile  factions 
with  inflammable  Southern  passions  already  heated  to 
madness  ;  leaders  on  both  sides  eager  to  head,  but  nn- 


THE   LOUISIANA   ADJUSTMENT.  23 

able  to  guide  their  followers ;  the  semblance  of  a  legis 
lature  in  session  and  therefore  no  colorable  pretext  ex 
isting  for  calling  in  Federal  aid  to  meet  the  progress  of 
sedition ;  here  were  all  the  elements  of  a  revolution  in 
which  violence. and  atrocity  would  have  run  full  riot. 
Where  was  the  hand  that  could  stay  the  disaster,  and 
bring  these  wild  elements  into  harmony  ?  "Was  there  a 
man  in  the  nation  who,  answering  Virgil's  description, 
revered  for  his  piety  and  services,  could  "  soothe  with 
sober  words  their  angry  mood,"  and  lay  this  storm  of 
sectional  and  political  passion  ?  It  would  be  hazardous 
to  say  that  there  was  more  than  one  :  one,  happily,  there 
was.  Mr.  Wheeler,  having  by  means  of  his  position  on 
the  Committee  on  Southern  Affairs  become  thoroughly 
informed  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  first  decided  in  his 
own  mind  upon  a  plan  of  adjustment,  and  then  went 
to  New  Orleans  and  laid  it  before  the  most  ultra  men 
of  both  parties,  urging  it  upon  them  with  all  the  force 
of  cogent  reasoning  and  strong  appeal.  Having  secured 
the  assent  of  the  leaders,  his  next  and  harder  task  was 
to  bring  over  the  masses  of  the  two  parties  to  accept 
the  plan  proposed.  While  this  was  in  process,  Mr. 
Wheeler  remained  in  New  Orleans  during  a  long  month 
of  toil  and  peril,  exposed  to  popular  insult,  threatened 
with  assassination,  on  one  occasion  actually  fired  on, 
but  holding  firmly  to  his  original  scheme  against  all 
appeals  for  modifications  urged  upon  him,  now  by  one 
side,  now  by  the  other,  until  the  adjustment  was  finally 
effected,  and  Louisiana  had  peace.  And  be  it  under 
stood  that  in  all  this  Mr.  Wheeler,  though  a  member  of 


24  AS    RAILROAD   MANAGER. 

the  Committee  of  Congress  on  Southern  Affairs,  was 
clothed  with  no  authority  to  enforce  his  views.  The 
settlement  he  effected  cannot  even  be  called  an  arbitra 
tion,  for  the  contending  parties  had  not  agreed  to  sub 
mit  their  differences  to  him.  It  was  the  case  of  a  citi 
zen  of  the  United  States  going  to  the  rescue  of  his 
fellow  citizens  involved  in  difficulty  and  persuading 
them  to  accept  deliverance  at  his  hands.  And  never 
before  in  our  history  has  one  man  so  changed  the  con 
dition  and  prospects  of  a  whole  State  as  did  Mr.  Wheeler 
in  Louisiana,  though  acting  unofficially,  and  carrying  his 
measures  by  sheer  force  of  character.  It  is  pleasant  to 
be  able  to  add  that  during  a  subsequent  visit  to  New 
Orleans,  made  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  execution 
of  his  plan,  Mr.  Wheeler  found  himself  the  applauded 
and  feted  hero  of  that  brilliant  city,  the  two  parties 
vying  with  each  in  doing  him  homage. 

AS    RAILROAD    MANAGER. 

In  endeavoring  to  give  some  continuity  to  the  ac 
count  of  Mr.  Wheeler's  political  career,  we  have  passed 
by  a  large  section  of  his  life  during  which  he  devoted 
himself  to  business  pursuits.  He  was  cashier  of  the 
Malone  Bank  from  1851  to  1865.  In  1854,  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  second  mortgage 
bonds  of  the  old  Northern  Railroad,  which  has  since 
been  merged  in  the  Ogdensburg  and  Lake  Champlain 
Railroad.  As  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  he 
was  virtually  manager  of  the  road  for  eleven  years. 
When  it  first  came  into  his  hands,  the  bonds  were  sell- 


RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER.  —  PERSONAL   TRAITS.      25 

ing  for  four  and  five  cents  on  the  dollar ;  but  obtaining 
a  decree  of  the  court  allowing  the  trustees  to  bid  in 
the  road,  he  raised  the  property  for  the  benefit  of  the 
bondholders,  until  every  dollar  of  the  bonds  was  pay 
ing  a  fair  interest  to  the  holders.  Mr.  Wheeler  him 
self  never  owned  a  dollar  of  the  securities  of  the  road. 
On  laying  down  his  trust  in  1865,  his  accounts  for  the 
total  period  of  his  trusteeship  were  audited  and  allowed 
by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  he  was  fully  discharged  by 
decree  of  the  court,  to  which  all  persons  interested 
were  made  parties. 

RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER. 

For  many  years  past,  Mr.  Wheeler  has  been  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Malone.  He 
maintains  worship  in  his  family,  takes  part  in  the  de 
votional  meetings  of  his  church,  and  is  earnest  in  all 
Christian  activities  and  benevolences.  As,  however,  he 
is  broader  than  his  party  in  politics,  so  his  religious 
sympathies  extend  beyond  his  own  denomination  in  the 
Church.  A  few  years  ago,  when  the  Methodists  of 
Malone  .built  a  new  church  edifice,  Mr.  Wheeler  gave 
$1000  to  aid  the  enterprise.  Other  denominations 
have  also  had  from  him  liberal  testimonials  of  his  in 
terest  in  their  prosperity. 

PERSONAL    TRAITS. 

Mr.  Wheeler  has  a  dignified  and  commanding  pres 
ence  ;  his  manners  are  cordial ;  his  conversation  is  un 
usually  interesting,  as  that  of  a  man  who  has  seen  and 


26  A  REPRESENTATIVE  MAN. 

thought  much,  and  who  takes  pleasure  in  sharing  his 
views  with  others.  His  face  has  an  expression  of  min 
gled  sternness  and  sweetness,  saying  to  you  at  the  first 
look,  "  Here  is  a  man  whom  no  one  would  dare  ask  to 
do  wrong,"  and  at  the  second  look,  "  Here  is  a  man  of 
whom  any  one  may  ask  a  kindness." 

A    REPRESENTATIVE    MAN. 

Take  him  for  all  in  all,  Mr.  Wheeler  is  a  representa 
tive  American.  His  political  principles  are  grounded 
in  the  fundamental  ideas  of  American  Republicanism. 
He  is  in  cordial  sympathy  with  the  people  and  is  an 
exponent  of  their  best  spirit  and  purpose.  Endowed 
with  faculties  whose  combination  begets  that  rarest  in 
telligence  which  in  private  life  we  call  good  sense  and 
in  a  statesman  wisdom  ;  raised  by  education  to  the  level 
of  our  ablest  men  in  self-respect  and  in  the  power  to 
maintain  opinions  in  their  presence,  and  yet  not  lifted 
out  of  the  associations  and  sympathies  of  the  common 
people ;  a  man  of  such  rare  purity  of  character  that 
although  he  has  been  in  public  office  nearly  all  his  life, 
his  reputation,  even  in  these  scandalous  time?,  is  unsul 
lied  by  even  the  breath  of  suspicion  ;  a  "  plain  man," 
a  true  gentleman,  a  wise  statesman,  a  sincere  Christian, 
Mr.  Wheeler  is  a  man  singularly  fitted,  in  this  time  of 
revived  national  spirit,  to  represent  the  American  peo 
ple  and  the  results  of  a  century  of  American  institu 
tions,  in  one  of  the  two  national  offices  directly  in  the 
gift  of  the  people.  May  they  not  lose  their  opportu 
nity  ! 


LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE.  27 

LETTER    OF    ACCEPTANCE. 

MALONE,  July  15,  1876. 

Hon.  Edward  McPherson,  and  others  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  the  Republican  National  Convention  :  — 
GENTLEMEN  :  —  I  received,  on  the  6th  inst.,  youi 
communication  advising  me  that  I  had  been  unani 
mously  nominated  by  the  National  Convention  of  the 
Republican  party,  held  at  Cincinnati  on  the  14th  ult., 
for  the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States ; 
and  requesting  my  acceptance  of  the  same,  and  asking 
my  attention  to  the  summary  of  Republican  doctrines 
contained  in  the  platform  adopted  by  the  convention. 

A  nomination  made  with  such  unanimity  implies  a 
confidence  on  the  part  of  the  Convention  which  in 
spires  my  profound  gratitude.  It  is  accepted  with  a 
sense  of  the  responsibility  which  may  follow.  If  elect 
ed,  I  shall  endeavor  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  office 
in  the  fear  of  the  Supreme  Ruler,  and  in  the  interest 
of  the  whole  country. 

To  the  summary  of  doctrines  enunciated  by  the 
Convention  I  give  my  cordial  assent.  The  Republican 
party  has  intrenched  in  the  organic  law  of  our  land 
the  doctrine  that  liberty  is  the  supreme,  unchangeable 
law  for  every  foot  of  American  soil.  It  is  the  mission 
of  that  party  to  give  full  effect  to  this  principle  by 
"  securing  to  every  American  citizen  complete  liberty 
and  exact  equality  in  the  exercise  of  all  civil,  political, 
and  public  rights."  This  will  be  accomplished  only 
when  the  American  citizen,  without  regard  to  color, 


28  LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE. 

shall  wear  this  panoply  of  citizenship  as  fully  and  as 
securely  in  the  cane  brakes  of  Louisiana  as  on  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Upon  the  question  of  our  Southern  relations,  my 
views  were  recently  expressed  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  the  United  States  House  of  Represen 
tatives  upon  Southern  Affairs.  Those  views  remain 
unchanged,  and  were  thus  expressed :  — 

"  We  of  the  North  delude  ourselves  in  expecting 
that  the  masses  of  the  South,  so  far  behind  in  many 
of  the  attributes  of  enlightened  improvement  and  civil 
ization,  are,  in  the  brief  period  of  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
to  be  transformed  into  our  model  Northern  communi 
ties.  That  can  only  come  through  a  long  course  of 
patient  waiting,  to  which  no  one  can  now  set  certain 
bounds.  There  will  be  a  good  deal  of  unavoidable  fric 
tion,  which  will  call  for  forbearance,  and  which  will 
have  to  be  relieved  by  the  temperate,  fostering  care  of 
the  government.  One  of  the  most  potent,  if  not  in 
dispensable  agencies  in  this  direction,  will  be  the  de 
vising  of  some  system  to  aid  in  the  education  of  the 
masses.  The  fact  that  there  are  whole  counties  in 
Louisiana  in  which  there  is  not  a  solitary  school- 
house,  is  full  of  suggestion.  We  compelled  these  peo 
ple  to  remain  in  the  Union,  and  now  duty  and  interest 
demand  that  we  leave  no  just  means  untried  to  make 
them  good,  loyal  citizens.  How  to  diminish  the  fric 
tion,  how  to  stimulate  the  elevation  of  this  portion  of 
our  country,  are  problems  addressing  themselves  to  our 
best  and  wisest  statesmanship.  The  foundation  for 


LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE.  29 

these  efforts  must  be  laid  in  satisfying  the  Southern 
people  that  they  are  to  have  equal,  exact  justice  ac 
corded  to  them.  Give  them,  to  the  fullest  extent, 
every  blessing  which  the  government  confers  upon  the 
most  favored  —  give  them  no  just  cause  for  complaint, 
and  then  hold  them,  by  every  necessary  means,  to  an 
exact,  rigid  observance  of  all  their  duties  and  obliga 
tions  under  the  Constitution  and  its  amendments  to  se 
cure  to  all  within  their  borders  manhood  and  citizen 
ship,  with  every  right  thereto  belonging." 

The  just  obligations  to  public  creditors,  created  when 
the  government  was  in  the  throes  of  threatened  disso 
lution,  and  as  an  indispensable  condition  of  its  salva 
tion —  guarantied  by  the  lives  and  blood  of  thousands 
of  its  brave  defenders  —  are  to  be  kept  with  religious 
faith,  as  are  all  the  pledges  subsidiary  thereto  and  con 
firmatory  thereof. 

In  my  judgment  the  pledge  of  Congress  of  January 
14,  1875,  for  the  redemption  of  the  notes  of  the  United 
States  in  coin,  is  the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation,  and 
national  honor,  simple  honesty,  and  justice  to  the  peo 
ple  whose  permanent  welfare  and  prosperity  are  de 
pendent  upon  true  money,  as  the  basis  of  their  pecuni 
ary  transactions,  all  demand  the  scrupulous  observance 
of  this  pledge,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  sup 
plement  it  with  such  legislation  as  shall  be  necessary 
for  its  strict  fulfillment. 

In  our  system  of  government  intelligence  must  give 
safety  and  value  to  the  ballot.  Hence  the  common 
schools  of  the  land  should  be  preserved  in  all  their 


30  LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE. 

vigor,  while  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  con 
stitution,  they  and  all  their  endowments  should  be 
secured  by  every  possible  and  proper  guaranty  against 
every  form  of  sectarian  influence  or  control. 

There  should  be  the  strictest  economy  in  the  ex 
penditures  of  the  government  consistent  with  its  effec 
tive  administration,  and  all  unnecessary  offices  should 
be  abolished.  Offices  should  be  conferred  only  upon 
the  basis  of  high  character  and  particular  fitness,  and 
should  be  admistered  only  as  public  trusts,  and  not  for 
private  advantage. 

The  foregoing  are  chief  among  the  cardinal  principles 
of  the  Republican  party,  and  to  carry  them  into  full, 
practical  effect  is  the  work  it  now  has  in  hand.  To 
the  completion  of  its  great  mission  we  address  our 
selves  in  hope  and  confidence,  cheered  and  stimulated 
by  the  recollection  of  its  past  achievements ;  remem 
bering  that,  under  God,  it  is  to  that  party  that  we  are 
indebted  in  this  centennial  year  of  our  existence  for  a 
preserved,  unbroken  Union  ;  for  the  fact  that  there  is 
no  master  or  slave  throughout  our  broad  domains,  and 
that  emancipated  millions  look  upon  the  ensign  of  the 
Republic  as  the  symbol  of  the  fulfilled  declaration  that 
all  men  are  created  free  and  equal,  and  the  guaranty 
of  their  own  equality,  under  the  law,  with  the  most 
highly  favored  citizen  of  the  land. 

To  the  intelligence  and  conscience  of  all  who  desire 
good  government,  good  will,  good  money,  and  universal 
prosperity,  the  Republican  party,  not  unmindful  of  the 
imperfection  and  short-comings  of  human  organizations, 


LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  31 

yet  with  the  honest  purpose  of  its  masses  promptly  to 
retrieve  all  errors  and  to  summarily  punish  all  offenders 
against  the  laws  of  the  country,  confidently  submits 
its  claims  for  the  continued  support  of  the  American 
people. 

Respectfully, 

WILLIAM  A.  WHEELER. 


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This  work,  which  was   published   in   the   spring   of   1870,  has 
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